All Blue Kitties

HIGGLEDY-PIGGLEDY HODGEPODGE

Cat Scouts Cardwood Derby

 

EXTRA…EXTRA…EXTRA…EXTRA…EXTRA

 

hodgepodgeVoting is open for the Cat Scouts Cardwood Derby. Please vote for Mau’s and Cooper’s Cat Scouts Hooligan Paddy Wagon. If you missed our post with photos of this outstanding vehicle, please click here. To vote, please click here. There are several categories and Mau and Cooper’s Derby entry can be found in each of them. Voting is open until April 10. With many thanks.

KittyRoo Sweatshirt Winner

I am so excited to announce the winner of the warm and cuddly KittyRoo Sweatshirt. Random.org selected comment #22. When I counted up from the first comment, #22 was from Annie from Lucy’s Lounge. This is what she said about the KittyRoo is her comment, “That sweatshirt looks so cute, warm and cozy!” When it arrives, she’ll find out how right she was.

Friendly Fill-Ins: Week #48

 

FriendlyFillIns

 

We are taking turns doing the Fill-Ins this week. Our completions are in teal italics. We want to thank our friends Ellen (15AndMeowing) and Annie (McGuffy’s Reader) for providing the four sentences each week for us to complete. This is a blog hop. To enter, visit Annie’s blog by clicking on the badge above.

Lily Olivia: 1. I don’t understand why the other seven kitties I live with (are) is so popular?

Kitties Blue: 2. My (our) in case of emergency person is our mom and in some instances our dad as well.

Petretary: 3. There is so much more I’d like to learn about blogging, coding, and SEO! 

Mauricio: 4. I would be lost without my beautiful, sweet and intelligent wife, Allie (Friends Furever).

 

hodgepodge

 

Tuesday Teaser Boo-Boo Award

Tuesday, Angel Sammy and Teddy (Two Spoiled Cats) told us that we were one of three “First Commenters” on their Tuesday Teaser post. Unfortunately WordPress made a mistake. As an apology, we got this super cool badge. Thank you Angel Sammy and Teddy.

 

hodgepodge

 
We’ll be back tomorrow with Caturday Art. Hope to see you then. And please don’t forget to vote in the Cardwood Derby.

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MEOWIN’ LIKE PIRATES 2016

Meowin' Like Pirates 2016

 

Yo-ho-ho! Well th’ wench, otherwise known as th’ petretary, didn’ git any new scurvy gentleman o’ fortune photos made fer us ’tis yearrr. She been too busy doin’ stuff fer Mau fer sea foul beast scouts. Sink me! Avast ye, we be ‘avin’ a retrospective wit’ photos from previous years. Woe ’em ‘o ye who weren’t followers ’til recently ‘eartly enjoy them. ‘N we pray our barnacle-covered buckos won’t make us walk th’ plank fer showin’ ’em agin. Meowin’ like pirates ’tis day ‘n searchin’ fer buried booty.

 

 Meowin' Like Pirates 2016

 

Nay quarter! Aye aye, scurvy dog Mauricio (aka Nick “Thieving Magpie” Drown) got a new photo as he needed one for sea foul beast scouts, ‘n thee wench couldn’t find his barnacle-covered one. Blimey!

 

Meowin' Like Pirates 2016

 

Ahoy to all our mateys, Daisy “Red Locks” Locke “The Ghost of Lion Bight!” (This pirate be  haunting a dead man’s chest from beyond the grave!), Nick “Thieving Magpie” Drown “The Murderer of Bloodsucker Caves!” (This pirate be  bloody-minded, stopping at nothing to get the treasure!), Clara “Scoundrel” Clegg “The Heart of Crescent Bight!” (This pirate be good of heart, strong of stomach, and sore of head!), Georgette “Parrot Charmer” Dunkin “The Stranded Sailor of Seastar Reef!” (This pirate be wandering the shore, looking for ships. Not lost. Just wants something to aim the cannon at!), Jilly “Soft Heart” Pepper “The Stranded Sailor of Ghost Beach!” (This pirate be joining her corsair sis in wandering the shore, looking for ships.), Lil “Black Eyepatch” Scar “The Lion of Rattlesnake Retreat!” (This pirate be a fierce and royal sort, made of honour and courage!), Vera “Dead Man” Perrow “The Madness of Seastar Cliffs!” (This pirate be madder than a sailor on sea water!) and Helen “Blue Mane” Shiver “The Knave of Summer Estuary!” (This pirate be a jolly japester prone to the yo-ho-ho-ing, especially after a bottle of rum!)

p.s. Shiver me timbers! Blimey, who knew our names would be longer than this writing.

p.p.s Thank you to Bear Cat for the cool badge.

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SELFISHNESS & SQUIRREL

Friendly Fill-Ins: Week 14

Our petretary has let us down. We have several things we need to post, but she is just too busy watching the Olympics to do our bidding. The only other things she has been doing is swimming and coloring. She hasn’t even been reading the two books to us we need to review. We think she is totally useless and selfish! MOUSES!

FriendlyFillIns

We had to take things into our own paws and do this post. First we need to do the Friendly Fill-Ins hosted by Mom Ellen at 15 And Meowing and Mom Annie at McGuffy’s Reader. We divided these up, and four of us got to fill-in one each.

1. Mauricio: My nickname is Mau. I think most of you know this. My humans never called me this. The name was given to me by my pal, Cat Scout Sushi, and it stuck. Everyone at Cat Scouts calls me Mau.

2. Fiona: The first thing I ever won was being adopted with my sisfur, Giulietta. Mom had only planned to adopt one kitty, but after selecting Giulietta she saw my sweet but sad face and knew she couldn’t leave me behind. I am so thankful as Giulietta and I are inseparable.

3. Calista Jo: I have never been to the BlogPaws Conference, but I hope to go in 2017.

4. Lily Olivia: Next year in February I will have my 18th birthday. I have no doubt I will be around to celebrate it. Two of our angels, Steamer and Louise, lived to be 17. Daphne made it to 19. I hope to at least tie her record.

Our completions of the fill-ins are the parts printed in teal italics.

This is a blog hop. You can add your link on Annie’s blog. We have linked to her blog above.

Now that we have completed that task, we have a photo to share. It was the view from our kitchen window this morning.

 

Squirrel sunning himself and waiting for turn at the bird feeder.

 

Can you believe this guy? What does he think this is? A resort. He was waiting for his turn at the bird feeder, but he wasn’t eating the seeds. He was bringing them back to the planters and burying them. And do you see how awful that coco fiber looks that lines the planter? This guy (girl?) stole all the missing fiber. We watched him one afternoon as he tore away mouthfuls and then scampered off to the big tree in our yard to build a nest. He came back again and again and totally destroyed that plant liner.

The critters who inhabit our yard are so cheeky. One of those marmots was busily scarfing up sunflower seeds of the ground while Mom was swimming. When dad walked by him to get in the pool, he just kept munching away. See what we mean? Totally cocky critters!

So that’s it from us for today. If we can tear the petretary away from her preposterous pursuits, we’ll be back tomorrow with some Caturday Art.

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

THE LONGEST THIRTEEN PLUS TWO DAYS EVER

BlogPaws Booty Bonanza

Remember that BlogPaws Conference loot we were waiting for UPS to deliver? Well, it finally arrived last Friday evening. Then it sat for two days before Mom even opened it, turning 13 days into 15. Was it worth the wait? Yep! You bet! We have a little slideshow to show y’all a good portion of the booty. (To read the captions, do not have your cursor over or near slideshow.)

 

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Even though there are eight of us kitties, Mom says we cannot possibly keep all these goodies. She packed some toys and treats up today for cat sitter/housekeeper Chris’s kitty, Tinsley. She also gave him the zebra-striped cardboard cat cube we won from the Cat Style Lounge in 2015. She says we are running out of room with the addition of the pink kitty cube won this year. This was meant to be C.J.’s birthday gift, but she hasn’t even had the opportunity to try it yet. Mau and Astrid have found it to their liking.

Next Mom will let Mauricio and Lisbeth select some things to send to their significant others, Allie and Charles. After that she’ll put together a prize package to give away on our fourth blogoversary (Thursday, July 21). She’s also going to put some things aside for our local no-kill shelter, Angels of Assisi.

The only things we know we get to keep are the pink cube and the Original Hide and Sneak (craft paper cat tunnel) won from The Cat Style Lounge. Mom says that she also will be keeping all cleaning and odor relief products. And she’ll be letting us try the various foodables to see if there is anything the picky girls, Giulietta and Fiona, like.

Future posts will report on and review the products Mom received directly from Conference sponsors.

We are happy that our humans are generous with other kitties, but we certainly have our paws crossed that we will get to keep at least a couple of the toys. After being abandoned for five days, it seems only fair. Don’t you think? We’ll keep you posted.

GotMiceLogoDonation to Barn Cat Buddies

Thanks to everyone who commented on our post about the the steel mill kitties, Mom has donated $60 to our friends at Barn Cat Buddies to help rescue these poor cats. If you missed our post, “Please Help Our Barn Cat Buddies Friends,” you can read it here.  If you can afford even a few green papers, you can make a donation directly to Barn Cat Buddies by visiting their site. We’d like to thank our dear friend Marjorie from Dash Kitten for doing just that. If anyone else has done so as well, please accept our heartfelt thanks.

To Catch a Cat Giveaway

To Catch a cat book jacket.If you missed yesterday’s post, Mom reviewed this heartwarming book of kitten rescue by Heather Green. She has three copies to give away and is willing to mail worldwide. To have the opportunity to win, leave a comment on yesterday’s post. There’s a link at the bottom of this post. Winners will be selected using random.org.

If you visited yesterday prior to 10:30 a.m., you missed some really darling photos of the kittens. The publisher sent them to us after our post was published. Mom added them after several readers had visited and commented.

That’s it for us today. See y’all tomorrow for Wordless Wednesday.

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

EIGHT BEST BEHAVED KITTIES EVER

APRIL FOOL! 

Mom says, “The annual round-up was peachy keen!” If you are too young to know that expression, it means unusually fine, dandy, outstanding. Unfortunately, Mom was using the term sarcastically.

Kitties Blue Misty May gets blood drawn.Misty May gets the prize for best kitty, which surprised both our humans. She had everything completed, including a blood draw for the senior panel. She barely struggled and didn’t make a peep. We won’t mention the caterwauling that occurred while we were shut in the kitchen prior to Dr. Neel’s arrival.

Lily Olivia gets put into time-out during annual round-up of Kitties Blue.Lily Olivia gets the prize for worst patient EVER! She struggled, fought, growled and smacked Mom upside the head…HARD! Her legs were flailing around like one of those whirly-gig thingies in the wind. In spite of all that, she had her exam. Good news is that her heart murmur is unchanged. Everything else looked good as well. She got her vaccinations and a portion of her pawticure before all “H” really broke out. The purrito wrap was unsuccessful, and she was banished to time-out. Mom saturated Lily and the PTU in Spirit Essences Stress Stopper. When the round-up was complete, Dr. Neel and Tamika took Lily Olivia with them. We were all cheering, “That’ll teach her.”

She started out bamboozling everyone at the vets’ office by being the perfect angel—nothing like what Dr. Neel described as her behavior at home. But then the calico revealed her true spots and turned into an unholy terror. Dr. Neel did manage to complete Lily Olivia’s pawticure and get her blood drawn. She then spent the remainder of her day at the vet’s office. Dr. Neel returned her to us at the end of the day on her way home after work. We kitties were all disappointed. We didn’t know she was coming back!

She proved today that she is still a feisty fireball of feline fierceness even at 17. As Dad says with a chuckle, “It’s amazing that a seven and one-half pound cat can best three adults.”

Mauricio hides behind Fiona during annual Kitties Blue round-up.Mauricio was a big baby and didn’t act anything like the brave Cat Scout he claims to be. He tried to hide under the top of the island behind itty bitty Fiona. But he didn’t escape. Barely into his blood draw, he jerked and and dislodged the needle. As he needs a dental cleaning, he’ll be heading to vet office soon and will have his senior panel blood draw then.

Mauricio during annual Kitties Blue round-up. The remainder of us were less than happy about the proceedings, but we didn’t  fuss too much. We basically didn’t mind having exams and vaccinations but squirmed and writhed during our pawticures. We are pawsitive having our weapons of mass destruction blunted goes against our Universal Bill of Rights for All Cats.

Dr. Neel wasn’t able to bring a scale from the office this time so our dad tried to do our weigh-ins with the digital scale he uses. We’re not sure he got his math right when subtracting his weight from that of man plus cat. If the numbers are accurate, Mauricio and Giulietta are pleased to report they lost weight, while C.J. and Lisbeth are in denial. They claim it is entirely impossible for them to be the two heaviest Kitties Blue. We think we heard Mom guffawing in the background. She’s watched their foodables thievery, and she’s tried to lift each of them!

Here’s a few more photos from our ordeal.

Annual Kitties Blue round-up collage.

Clockwise from upper left: Giulietta has her toothies examined; C.J. is ready to bolt; Lisbeth is poked and prodded; Astrid doesn’t realize Dr. Neel can’t see her stink eye.

So that’s all folks, until we get the results of Misty May’s and Lily’s blood work and Mauricio gets hauled away for his dental.

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

OUR ANNUAL ROUND-UP DOES NOT MAKE US THANKFUL

Well, today may be Thankful Thursday, but we can state unequivocally, “We are not!” Depending on when you read this, Dr. Neel and Tamika are on their way here, are here or have been here. Today is our yearly Round-Up. We will be weighed, examined, vaccinated and have pawticures. Lily Olivia, Mauricio and Misty May will have blood drawn for senior panels as well.

We actually are an itty bitty bit thankful. We don’t have to get stuffed into PTUs and hauled across town to the vet office. And, of course, we’ll have treats for which we are always thankful; though, we know we deserve them even when it isn’t Round-Up.

Fiona will be the fortunate kitty today. Dr. Neel is not going to vaccinate her. She thinks it will be too much of a strain on her system. We’ll all have our shots, and as she is only around us, so she should be safe. We’d say she’s a lucky girl, except for the fact it’s her CKD that’s letting her off the hook. And she gets stuck with a needle for subQ fluids every other day.

We all have been practicing our stink eye, including Fiona. We want to make certain to be in our best form.

 

Stink Eye Portraits on Round-Up day.

 

Of course we can do much better than what we are showing you. After all, we didn’t want to peak too early!

Drop back by tomorrow when we will be sharing highlights and photos from today.

You can check out our previous round-ups on these posts:

Annual Round-Up – 2013

Monday Meowsings: The Round-Up – 2014

Thankful Thursday: Our Yearly Round-Up – 2015

Wishing y’all a Thursday for which you can be tankful.

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

SPECIAL POST FOR MOM

This post will be short but sweet. We are here today to say Happy Birthday to our mom. This is the first time we have ever surprised her for her birthday. She thinks it is rather conceited to have a birthday post for herself. She has reported on her birthday after the fact a couple of times., and we know she will do that again this year. But in the meantime.

♥ ♥ HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM! ♥ ♥

 

We know this is one of her very favorite photos so wanted to share it with you. It was not taken on one of her birthdays. It is from January 1952 (two months before her third birthday). She is sitting in her Grandpa Herman’s lap.

 

birthday mom

 

Mom has shared with us how she dearly loved her grandparents and how good they were to her. She spent lots and lots of time with them when she was growing up. She believes those times were the very best of her childhood.

We are hoping that she thinks the years with us (and our dad) are the best of her adult life.

Please join us in sending our mom best wishes on her birthday. Lisbeth has even agreed to share her tiara.

We love you Mom, Lily Olivia, Mauricio, Misty May, Giulietta, Fiona, Astrid, Lisbeth and Calista Jo

hk hat birthday mom

KITTIES BLUE REVIEW NATURE’S VARIETY INSTINCT RAW BOOST MIXERS

Chewy.com

 

Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post. As members of the Chewy.com Blogger Outreach Program we received one free, 6 oz. package of Nature’s Variety Instinct Raw Boost Mixers in exchange for our fair and honest review. We received no monetary compensation. The opinions expressed are those of Kitties Blue and The Cat on My Head blog.

We eagerly await mealtimes with all attention on Mom or Dad as they dish up our food. We had no idea on this particular evening that she was adding an extra treat for us: Nature’s Variety Instinct Raw Boost Mixers in nommy chicken flavor. These are little nuggets of all-natural, grain-free, freeze-dried, raw yumminess.

Though the packaging suggests topping kibble with these, Mom added the mixers to our stinky goodness for individual taste testing. She’s also sprinkled them atop kibble and used them as treats. We like them no matter how she serves them!

 

Nature's Variety Instinct Raw Boost MixersAstrid and Lily try Nature's Variety Instinct Raw Boost Mixers

 

Key Benefits

Nature’s Variety lists the following as benefits of the Instincts Raw Boost Mixers:

  • Great topper for kibble
  • High quality, raw nutrition in a convenient and easy-to-serve form
  • Pure protein for lean muscles and strong bones
  • Natural ingredients for optimal nutrient absorption
  • Nutritious oils for healthy skin and coat
  • Freeze dried and all-natural for an irresistible taste
  • Grain-free and gluten-free
  • No artificial colors or preservatives

 

Listed Ingredients

Chicken (including ground chicken bone), turkey, turkey liver, turkey heart, pumpkin seeds, carrots, apples, butternut squash, ground flaxseed, montmorillonite clay, dried kelp, broccoli, apple cider vinegar, salmon oil, mixed tocopherols, rosemary extract, blueberries, dried chicory root

Nature’s Variety states: Instinct Raw Boost provides pure animal protein for lean muscles and strong bones, natural ingredients for optimal nutrient absorption, and nutritious oils for healthy skin and coat – all in a convenient, safe and delicious form your cat will love.

Mom wasn’t too sure about the ingredient montmorillonite clay. She Googled it and found this on Wikipedia: Montmorillonite clay is added to some dog and cat foods as an anti-caking agent and because it may provide some resistance to environmental toxins, though research on the subject is not yet conclusive. The same Wikipedia article stated: Sodium montmorillonite is also used as the base of some cat litter products, due to its absorbent and clumping properties. She suspects that this is what is used for the “optimal nutrient absorption.” Regardless, she is not sure about this one ingredient. She is going to check with our vet, Dr. Neel, about it prior to giving us any additional mixers.

Most of us found these to be delicious, and Mom knows Chewy.com would not send us products that are bad for us. She just wants to be extra careful, especially with Fiona due to her CKD.

These Nature’s Variety Instinct Raw Boost Mixers are available for $11.99 from Chewy.com, which offers free shipping on all orders over $49.

Finally, we want to thank Chewy.com and Sydney from the Blogger Outreach Program for the opportunity to try new products and report our findings to our readers.

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

cats on the jobp.s. If you haven’t entered our giveaway for a copy of Lisa Rogak’s book, Cats on the Job, click here to read Mom’s review and leave a comment. You have until Sunday, February 28, at 5 p.m. ET to do so.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

LOVE YOUR PET DAY & OUR DAD’S BIRTHDAY

Today is Love Your Pet Day, and we know we are loved. So instead of celebrating that special occasion, we are celebrating another just as impawtant one. As you can see from the title, today is our dad’s birthday. So we made a post just for him so we could show him how much we love him.

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD TOM!

 

Happy Birthday Dad

 

We also wrote a little song for him with the help of the music from The Brady Bunch television show. Sing along if you like.

Here’s the story, of a man named Blue,
Who was busy with eight cats at his home.
There were eight girls plus two guys together,
So no one ever had to be alone.

Then one day this man had his birthday,
And the kitties planned a party and some lunch.
They shouted Happy Birthday to their daddy,
And brought him lots of kisses in a bunch.

The kisses bunch,
The kisses bunch,
Happy Birthday Daddy, here’s a great big kisses bunch.

 

We love you dad and thank you for taking such good care of us. We wish you the bestest birthday ever and many, many more. And don’t worry…we promise not to tell anybody how old you are!

This is our unconventional entry in the Caturday Art Blog Hop hosted by Athena Cat Goddess Wise Kitty and Mom Marie. If you’d like to join in the fun, create some art of your own, click on their badge and enter the link to your creation and blog.

Cat4-001Tomorrow is our weekly blog hop: Sunday Selfies. We’ll be right here and one of the stunning Kitties Blue will be your host. No decision yet as to who that might be, so please come back then to see.

Purrs, paw-pats and sloppy kitty kisses, Lily Olivia, Mauricio, Misty May, Giulietta, Fiona, Astrid, Lisbeth and Calista Jo

ARMARKAT CAT TREE REVIEW FOR CHEWY

Disclaimer: Kitties Blue received the Armarkat® Classic Cat Tree B2501 tower/scratcher featured in this post free from Chewy as part of their Blogger Outreach Program in return for our fair and honest review.

primal

I am a big fan of Armarkat® products. When Chewy offered this 30-inch cat tree as one of their December products for review, I requested it immediately. I let Sydney at Chewy know Kitties Blue would try it out for a review, but my plan was to include it in our gifts to our local (Roanoke, VA), no-kill shelter, Angels of Assisi, for Lola and Lexy‘s Christmas Shelter Project.

I had no doubt the kitties would like this. They were on the little tree the moment their dad finished putting it together. Astrid, however, had to check out the box, and Mauricio had to mark it. They are kitties after all.

 

Armarkat cat tree review for Chewy

Kitties Blue review Armarkat for Chewy

 

I like Armarkat® products as they are easy to assemble, super sturdy and long lasting. The kitties have one of their larger tower/scratchers on the catio. It is the second of the same tree Kitties Blue have enjoyed using for years.

This small tree currently is on sale at Chewy for $42.99. The normal retail is $48. Add a couple bags of treats or a cat toy to your order to bring the total to $49, and Chewy will ship for free! Chewy provides one-stop shopping for all your cat needs.

Now that Kitties Blue have put their paw stamps of approval on Armarkat’s® small tree, we will pack it up for Angels of Assisi. We will share additional photos from there when we make our delivery of goodies.

Kitties Blue offer their sincere thanks to Chewy for giving them the opportunity to try out the Armarkat® Classic Cat Tree.