Mau

A CHRISTMAS SPARK & LETTER TO SANTA CLAWS

Sparks

 

Christmas Spark

 

The author of today’s Spark, Gordon Bitner Hinckley, was an American religious leader and author who served as the 15th President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) from March 12, 1995, until his death in 2008 at age 97. Considered a prophet, seer, and revelator by church members, Hinckley was the oldest person to preside over the church in its history.

Hinckley was awarded ten honorary doctorate degrees. In 2004 he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by George W. Bush. Hinckley also received the Boy Scouts of America’s highest award, the Silver Buffalo, and served as chairman of the Church Boards of Trustees/Education.

Sparks began as a blog hop, created by our friend, Annie (McGuffy’s Reader). Annie has been taking a “break” from blogging, so there is no hop. Unfortunately, during this break, Annie has been the victim of a hacker. This has continued to keep her off-line and caused her much distress. Kitties Blue and I ask for your continued prayers for Annie and her family as they try to reconcile this mess and get their lives back to normal.

Many of us still continue to post a Spark on Monday, as we believe in Annie’s vision: “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!”

Letter to Santa

This being Christmas Eve, Kitties Blue asked me to share their letter to Santa poem. Many of you have probably already seen this, as we have posted it previously.

 A Cat’s Letter to Santa Claws

Santa

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

Kitties Blue are wondering if you wrote a letter to Santa and if you asked for anything special. Let us know in the Comments.

Cooper Murphy and Mau are joining Awww Mondays blog hop at Comedy Plus.

 

MEOW LIKE A PIRATE DAY 2018

Not So Wordless Wednesday

 

 

The boys are participating in Meow Like a Pirate Day. The girls said they were not interested this year.

Says who? Whoever said that was lying. We girls think it is super cool to be pirates.

The boys are all dressed and ready to go. You girls seem to be sitting around in your furs.

We don’t need costumes to swill grog and rum and search for buried treasure.

Not dressing up sort of takes the fun out of it don’t you think?

Arrgh! I guess you’re right. So here I am in my costume.

 

Pirate cat Misty May

 

Do you have a pirate name?

Of course; though, I think whomever came up with it must have been blind. I am known as Calico Mary Kidd. It’s obvious I’m a tuxie not a calico.

Do any of the other girls wish to join you as a pirate?

I guess not…maybe that rumor about not participating wasn’t so far from the truth.

Should we check out the boys and see if they are dressed for the activities?

Yeah…why not.

Pirate cats: Cooper Murphy, Mau, Sawyer

 

Wow, they sure look like swashbucklers. I wonder what their pirate names are?

We are Captain Roger Kidd, Captain Sparrow the Funkmaster and Iron Davy Rackham.

Yo ho ho and a bottle of milk. Mau says I’m too young for rum or grog and that I cannot drink alcohol with my medication. Pffft! Oops, I mean Arrgh.

Do you scalawags have a ship?

As a matter of fact we do. Unfortunately it is in need of repairs, as you can see. We are disgruntled landlubbers for now.

 

 

Due to our inability to set sail and pillage some villages, we are setting off for some parties. Captain Roger Kidd and Iron Davy Rackham are heading over to the Tabby Cat Club, and later Captain Roger Kidd will join me at Cat Scouts.

What about Calico Mary Kidd? Are you taking her with you?

I guess she can tag along with us to Cat Scouts

Gee, thanks, Captain Jack Sparrow Funkmaster. So kind of you.

Have fun today! Don’t get yourselves into any trouble.

Arrgh! Arrgh! Arrgh! Arrgh!

Key to speakers: Mom/Sawyer/Cooper Murphy/Mau/Misty May

Though we have not been wordless today, we are joining the blog hops at Create with Joy and Comedy Plus.

Wordless Wednesday at Create With Joy

 

LOST IN SPACE

Caturday Art

Cooper Murphy assumed his favorite position last night while Mau looked on wondering what kind of goof he has for a brother. If you cannot see Mau, he shows up better in the original photo, which is below.

 

Caturday Art - Lost in Space

 

I’m fairly certain Cooper Murphy was thinking about smacking Mau when this photo was snapped. I think Cooper looks as if he is floating on his back among the stars. What do you think?

To create today’s art, I started with the Street filter from Picas. Then I added the Space filter in the “hardlight” mode from PicMonkey. The geometric design around the edges is from piZap. The navy border was added using Picasa.

Here’s the original. You can see Mau’s profile on the right.

 

Caturday Art- CM original

 

Cooper Murphy and Mau are joining the Caturday Art blog hop at Athena Cat Goddess Wise Kitty’s blog. It’s super fun to use the free photo-editing apps on the internet to come up with interesting designs for your photos. Give it a try and join the hop or at least visit to find links to other masterpieces from your fellow bloggers. Click on Athena’s badge to do so.

Sunday Selfies Reminder

I am currently looking for a volunteer to be your host for Sunday Selfies tomorrow. None of the Kitties Blue are rushing to the front of the line in order to be selected. I hope you are not experiencing the same apathy at your house. Selfie participants love company, so I sincerely hope a critter from your house will come forward. Remember Sunday Selfies are not for just kitties. All anipals are welcome. Stop by tomorrow and make some new friends.

 

 

 

 

FILLING IN ON FRIDAY

Friendly Fill-Ins: Week #121

 

Friendly Fill-Ins is a blog hop hosted each Friday by Ellen (15 And Meowing) and Lorianne (Four-Legged Furballs). The sentences to be completed can be found on their blogs each Thursday. This is a great way to learn a bit more about your fellow bloggers. To join, click on the Fill-Ins badge.

I needed some help from Kitties Blue to complete today’s fill-ins. All our fill-ins are in teal italics.

1. Mau: September is the perfect month for a big birthday celebration for Misty May and me. We’ll be 14 on the 17th.

Friendship Friday - Mau and Misty May kittens

We were cute kittens and liked each other when we were youngsters. Not so much now!

 

2. Mom Janet: This month, I am looking forward to our construction project beginning. Excavation was finally completed yesterday.

3. Calista Jo: My morning routine always includes gobbling down my breakfast so I can steal Giulietta’s. She is a slow poke and will always back off when I show up.

4. Cooper Murphy: I have a love-hate relationship with Mau. We like to bathe each other at night, but before meals we like to get down and dirty with wrasslin’, kickin’, growlin’ and hissin’. (It’s really all in good fun!)

We also are joining the Feline Friday blog hop at Comedy Plus. To join click on the badge below.

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SPRINGING INTO FILL-INS WITH SAWYER

Friendly Fill-Ins: Week #120

I needed a bit of help again this week in order to complete the fill-ins. Sawyer was my assistant and completed #3. I believe he’s the only one in the household who learned something new this week. I’m a bit embarrassed by that. We all should be learning new things. I’m making a pledge to do better. That said, here are our fill-ins.

1. The best teacher I ever had was Sarah Cooper. She was my high school Home Economics teacher and became my friend and mentor after my mom died. (Miss Cooper was only eight years older than I was.)

2. The worst teachers I ever had were Dr. Burma and Merle Woodward. Burma taught biology in my high school. Stern-faced, he was unwilling to help students (like myself) who weren’t science geniuses. Dr. Burma was a source of amusement, however, as he wore the same tie everyday for the entire school year. Mrs. Woodward was the other worst teacher. She taught advanced English and absolutely hated me. It would take paragraphs to explain.

3. Sawyer: I recently learned how to play with springs. I know you learned this yesterday. Unfortunately, Mom hasn’t taken any photos of me playing, but here’s an “after” photo of me exhausted.

 

fill-ins

 

4. I think everyone should know how to swim. If you’ve missed Mau trying his paw at swimming, here is a little video.

 

 

Friendly Fill-Ins is a blog hop hosted each Friday by Ellen (15 And Meowing) and Lorianne (Four-Legged Furballs). The sentences to be completed can be found on their blogs each Thursday. This is a great way to learn a bit more about your fellow bloggers. To join, click on the Fill-Ins badge.

 

We also are joining the Feline Friday blog hop at Comedy Plus. To join click on the badge below.

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MAU HELPS WITH FILL-INS

Friendly Fill-Ins: Week #119

Mau is helping today with the Friendly Fill-Ins by completing the first one. I have completed the other three. We both used teal italics for our completions.

1.  Mau: My lovely wife Allie brings out the best in me.

2. Heat and humidity and animal cruelty make me grumpier than Grumpy Cat.

3. If money grew on trees, I would plant more and more trees so I could support all the homeless animals and people.

This is a good opportunity to remind you about #RememberMeThursday. To learn more about and/or become involved with #RememberMeThursday, click on the graphic.

 

 

4. I have a fear of FIRE. When I was a kid on vacation with my family, we ended up driving through a forest fire. It is the most frightened I have ever been. I won’t even light a match. My nephew is a Captain with CalFire (California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection). He wanted to be a firefighter from the time he was a little boy. I am proud of him for pursuing his dream.

Friendly Fill-Ins is a blog hop hosted each Friday by Ellen (15 And Meowing) and Lorianne (Four-Legged Furballs). The sentences to be completed can be found on their blogs each Thursday. This is a great way to learn a bit more about your fellow bloggers. To join in, click on the Fill-Ins badge.

We also are joining the Feline Friday blog hop at Comedy Plus. To join in click on the badge below.

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MAGICAL MEMORIES

Thoroughly Poetic Thursday

Mau and Allie (Friends Furever) are here today to welcome you to our poetry “trip.” I’ve altered the inspiration photo just a tad to enhance the theme of our poem. Hope you enjoy it.

 

Magic Mau & Allie

 

Magical Memories

This is a “Magic Bus”
But not the one of
Which The Who sang.
Our bus is a time machine
More Like Steppenwolf’s
“Magic Carpet Ride” or The
Beatles’ “Magical Mystery Tour.”
It’ll transport you to the ‘60s.
Inside you’ll find hippies
And flower children and
Concerts of grand proportion.
The Mamas and Papas are
Singing “California Dreamin’,”
And The Beach Boys are rocking
Out “California Girls” while
Scott McKenzie shares his
“San Francisco” vibe. John
Sebastian and the The Lovin’
Spoonful ask “Do You Believe
in Magic?” It’s all right
Here if you’d like a “trip”
Down memory lane. We’ll stop
At The Fillmore Auditorium,
And then magically transport
To the Monterey Pop Festival,
And on to the infamous Woodstock.
Those were the good old days.
Come along and enjoy them with us.

© Janet Buickerood Blue 08/22/2018

This really is a meander down memory lane for me. Dad Tom and I were both in high school and college in the 60s in California. We were both lucky enough to see most of the biggest names in Rock ‘n Roll at the time. And Dad Tom even had a VW bus before I met him. It was not, however, “magical” like this one.

Thoroughly Poetic Thursday was created by our friend, angel Sammy (Two Spoiled Cats), before he went to the Bridge. He continues to send a poem from the Bridge each Thursday, and we join in the fun when we can. To participate click on his badge. You can write your poem into a Comment or leave a link to your post. Don’t forget to read Sammy’s poem while you are there. It is always fabulous!

Thankful Thursday

Every Thursday we also join the Thankful Thursday blog hop, hosted by Brian. We are thankful we’ve had some rain and that we are having some lower temperatures. Dad Tom and I are super grateful that a building permit has been obtained for our addition. Now we are hoping for excavation and construction to be started soon. Finally, though Sawyer has been spitting out his pills so he can get some extra stinky goodness at each meal), he is doing better physically. He’s only had one itty bitty incident this past week.

To participate in the hop, post for what you are thankful and then click on Brian’s badge.

 

MAU’S PHOTOBOMBED SELFIE

Sunday Selfies: Week #207

I actually was going to do a selfie today for my lovely wife Allie. Unfortunately, Astrid had other plans. She likes me and was hoping I’d give her some attention.

 

 

Of course, she ended up upstaging me. With her big mug front and center, I was in no mood to try again for a selfie. If you look closely, you will see a mini-photobomber behind me and above my ear. He’s clueless and had no idea I was trying to take my selfie.

I am hoping that those of you joining us did a much better job than I did at capturing your adorableness. You do realize that each Sunday we post the cutest animals on the internet. You definitely don’t want to miss out on that. If you need a few tips for hopping with us, here are some tips our mom put together.

Blog 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.

Remembering Lucy

On Friday another friend gained her wings. Lucy sustained an herniated disc and had to be helped to the Bridge.

 

 

Lucy lived with the kitties, sugar gliders and humans at Kitty Cat Chronicles. She joined the household about two-and-a-half years ago after living with Mom Emily’s parents (and Emily when she was younger). Lucy was 18 years old and loved life, especially traveling with the family’s adventure cats.

Rest in Peace, Lucy. You will always be loved and will be missed.

Purrs and paw-pats, Mau and all the Kitties Blue