Nip Heads

GIVING THANKS 2015

We wanted to tell you about the things for which we and our humans are giving thanks today.

We asked Mom first. This was here reply.

  • Marrying Dad 42 years ago.
  • Us and the kitties that came before.
  • All her friends, especially those she’s made blogging.

Dad was next to give us his list of thanks.

  • A loving wife and eight loving kitties.
  • A comfortable life.
  • The opportunity to serve others.

Then it was our turn.

  • Mau is thankful for Allie and Cat Scouts. Lisbeth is thankful for Charles. Astrid is thankful for Sampy.
  • Chris as she always brings us treats and nip and bonito flakes.
  • A home with a mom and dad who cater to all our needs and love us unconditionally.

 

Thanks giving with nip

 

This is Lily Olivia, Lisbeth and Astrid enjoying the latest catnip bounty from Chris. If you look closely, you’ll see it in their furs. Lily snorphled so much nip that she slept the remainder of the day!

As we give thanks for these things and so many others, we pray that all those kitties awaiting homes will soon be enjoying warmth, comfort and love in a forever home.

Sending you all our best wishes for a happy and blessed Thanksgiving.

Our Giveaway for Catify to Satisfy

Jackson GalaxyLast Friday Mom posted Part 2 of her interview with cat behaviorist and Animal Planet star, Jackson Galaxy. She also reviewed his and Kate Benjamin’s new book, Catify to Satisfy. If you would like to have the opportunity to win a copy of this must have book, leave a comment here by 5 p.m. EST tomorrow. The winner will be selected using Random.org.

Check back tomorrow for Part 3 of the interview and updates on the Jackson Galaxy Foundation.

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

A COMBINED TORTIE/TUXIE TUESDAY DOOZY OF A SNOOZY

Disclaimer: This was supposed to be a final post about Mom and Dad’s trip to BlogPaws. Because of a super busy schedule yesterday, they haven’t even unpacked all the kitty swag or assembled the prize Mom won from the hauspanther Cat Style Lounge. So…the final BlogPaws post will occur on Thursday. Please accept our apologies.

Tuesday Doozy of a Snoozy

Some of us were less than enthusiastic to see the humans when they arrived home Sunday evening. Even though it was time to eat and we were anxious for dinner, we had to give them a bit of the back-of-disrespect treatment (especially Astrid) for abandoning us to spend time with other anipals. But they won us over immediately when they got out this Kitty Kush catnip grinder and started making little piles of finely ground nip for each of us. Nirvana!

By yesterday morning all was back to normal…well almost. Our catio time was mostly nonexistent due to men with chainsaws occupying our backyard and noise polluting our neighborhood. They started the removal of a 50-foot elm tree shading Dad’s solar panels. That was halted when the torrential rain with thunder and lighting began. Not sure which caused the most noise, but we didn’t care for either, and those tree stealers will be back tomorrow.

 

Tuesday doozy of a snoozy

 

At least for Mauricio and Astrid, the day was not a washout. They enjoyed a Tortie/Tuxie Tuesday Doozy of a Snoozy in Mom’s lap. Astrid even added some precious, pink toe beans for all the Toesy Tuesday fans. 

Mau is never happy when he has to share a lap as you can see from the expression on his face. But 90 purrcent of the time, Astrid will try to join him if he has claimed one of the human’s laps. He’s tolerating her as most of her body is on the counter. Mom is also purrleased by that as together they weigh more than 22 pounds. bet you can guess who the heavy-weight is!

Thank You

Thanks to everyone who joined Frank for our Sunday Selfies Blog Hop. We are still working on visiting each blog and promise to get to all of you by the end of the week.

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

SUNDAY SELFIES BLOG HOP

Sunday Selfies: Week #1

 

I believe I have created a Sunday Selfies Blog Hop using Linky Tools. I apologize for not giving you prior notification, but I was unsure how successful I would be.

If you would like to participate, please enter a Sunday Selfie of your kitty, woofie, piggie, bun, any other animal or even yourself. (Nothing suggestive or pornographic please.) If your post isn’t of a Selfie, just crop your photo to represent one of the faces in your post.

The Cat on My Head’s Sunday Selfies participant today is Lisbeth. She was not really a willing participant and had to be bribed. She agreed to multi-task and take her photo while chowing down on catnip. Most of her photos were unusable. She agreed, however, to allow me to post the ones below, but only as she knew her special friend, Cat Scout Charles, would like them.

 

Lisbeth Sunday Selfie

 

Lisbeth Sunday Selfies

 

Lisbeth Sunday Selfies

 

So, I had been thinking to myself lately that Astrid and Lisbeth’s birthdays should be coming up pretty soon. Well guess what? I just found out from The Cat Blogosphere that today is the day. What a crummy Mommy I am for not even realizing this. At least Lisbeth is featured on the blog today and Astrid has been featured several times lately. I’ll try to put together a post for them later in the week.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LISBETH AND ASTRID

WITH LOVE FROM YOUR MOM

I sure hope you will join us for our very first Sunday Selfies Blog Hop. And please feel free to display our Sunday Selfies Badge on your blog and link back to us if you would like. Obviously, that would make us super happy!

 



TUXIE TUESDAY: NIP INDULGENCE & A BIRTHDAY

Lisbeth’s dad says she is a “cow” cat and not a true Tuxie. In this photo, her largely white body is hidden behind the catnip plant we brought home from Williamsburg a couple weeks ago. So I am letting her take center stage again today on Tuxie Tuesday.

Lisnip

I hope a certain Lisbeth-admiring Cat Scout will enjoy seeing her again so soon in this cute photo.

The nip plant has been quite popular with mostly Lisbeth and Giulietta nibbling with abandon quite regularly.

In other news, today is Mauricio’s girlfriend Allie’s (Friends FurEver) birthday. Since it is Tuxie Tuesday, and Mau is a Tuxie, he asked if he could be part of this post to wish her Happy Birthday and share the card he sent to her.

alliebday

As we all love Allie, I could never refuse this request. All the Kitties Blue and I invite each of you to stop by her blog and offer her your Best Wishes. She truly is a special lady-cat.

See you tomorrow for Wordless Wednesday.

THANKFUL THURSDAY: THE RETURN & NIP

We are so thankful to have the humans back after their four-day jaunt to Colonial Williamsburg. The weather has turned furry cold again with the temps below freezing two nights in a row. The first night they were not here to snuggle us. We didn’t like that. But last night, six of us piled on the bed with them.

Mauricio and Giulietta feign disinterest.

Giulietta nomming.

Giulietta nomming.

Mauricio gives the new nip his pawstamp of approval.

Mauricio gives the new nip his pawstamp of approval.

 

We are particularly thankful for the live catnip plant they brought home for us. The killer cold weather this past winter deaded all our potted plants but one little sprig of parsley. Do you think our nip’s ancestors were plants from colonial times? Do you think that would make it more potent? We sure hope so ’cause last year we had two live plants!

Mom decided to plant our nip in the over-sized teacup planter that she painted a couple of years ago. She’s just hoping that Lisbeth does not try to dig it up as she did with the flowers planted there last summer. Here’s a photo of her caught in the act.

Lisbeth inspects her handiwork.

Lisbeth inspects her handiwork.

p.s. Mommy found remnants of nip on the kitchen counter and treats on top of our dry food when she got home. Now she knows that Chris was indulging us. But she is okay with that. So today, we also are thankful that Chris was our caregiver while the human’s were away.

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

 

 

EASY LIKE SUNDAY: HAM-MICK HEAVEN

Though Mom held out on us as far as the toys go, we got something so cool in the mail last week.

Mom bid on a Ham-mick at the auction for MaxMaxx and won. She then got to pick the fabric for it, and before we knew it, there it was on our doorstep.

Checking out the Ham-mick and getting our nip on.

Giulietta, Mauricio, Lisbeth and Fiona checking out the Ham-mick and getting their nip on.

When Dad brought the box in the house, we noticed that it had been badly damaged. And Dad said that he saw our neighbor cat, Sparky, chewing on it. The hole in the box was quite large so we assumed the package also had been damaged in the mail. We were really surprised and ecstatic when she opened the box ’cause none of the Ham-mick pieces had fallen out.

More inspection.

More inspection with Calista Jo joining in.

As soon as she laid everything out on the kitchen counter, we attacked. You see, nip was sprinkled everywhere inside the package. When Mom discovered this she examined the box further and realized all the damage to the box had been cat inflicted by Sparky…with maybe some help from Misty May or Mauricio, who had been hanging out on the porch as well. They’re keeping their traps shut as their birthdays are coming, and they don’t want to miss out on any treats or presents.

Lisbeth on the bed with Calista, Misty May and Giulietta wondering when they will get a turn.

Lisbeth on the bed with Calista, Misty May and Giulietta wondering when they will get a turn.

Mom put that Ham-mick together lickety-split and put it in the foyer. Lisbeth immediately claimed it for herself. But most of us are finding it quite to our liking as well, including Giulietta, Fiona, Calista Jo and Mauricio. Neither Astrid nor Lily will sleep that close to the floor fearing they will be attacked. And Misty May prefers the human’s bed.

We have added Ham-micks to our list for Santa Claws ’cause when we are all stuck in the house this winter, it sure would be nice to have more than one. And extra nip coming in the mail is always appreciated.

Lisbeth relaxing and Giulietta enjoying the nip.

Lisbeth relaxing and Giulietta enjoying the nip.

P.S. Please visit HH and the Boys today. Our angel, Madison, is #8 in HH’s (Lou Belcher’s) current 30 in 30 days cat paintings. When mom saw a photo of the painting yesterday, it took her breath away. She says it looked as if the real-life Madison was staring back at her. She’s been wanting a portrait of Madison since he went to the Rainbow Bridge. She was so excited about Lou’s ability to capture Madison’s look and personality that she has purchased the painting!

Lisbeth: "Mine all mine, finally!"

Lisbeth: “Mine all mine, finally!”

P.P.S. if you haven’t marked your calendar yet, please add a big, smiley, cat face for the 17th. That’s when Mauricio and Misty May will be celebrating their ninth birthdays. Mom has planned a GIGANTIC surprise for that day. It is really impawtant that we have lots of visitors and Mom knows you will want to tell all your friends. She’s even going to allow us to let the cat out of the bag (that better not be a new cat coming to live with us…we do not consider that an appropriate birthday present) as to the actual surprise a couple of days early. So keep checking back with us whenever you can.

Lisbeth: "Yippee, all those other cats have backed-off, and I can finally get my easy on."

Lisbeth: “Yippee, all those other cats have backed-off, and I can finally get my easy on.”

P.P.P.S. (Just how much pee do we need to put in this post?) You know those toys and treats Mom was holding back? She let us have a little green mousie with a fev-vered tail. And she let Maggie give us that entire bag of treats while she and Dad were away for a few days. We’re still ticked off that they left us again, and we weren’t very good while they were away (fodder for another post we suspect), but we sure did enjoy the extra noms.

Purrs and hugs, Lily Olivia, Mauricio, Misty May, Giulietta, Fiona, Astrid, Lisbeth and Calista Jo

 

TRANSGRESSIONS AND COMPLAINTS

We don’t want to complain. Who are we kidding, of course, we do. We are being neglected. Mom has chosen to spend time doing things other than catering to our every need. We’ll admit that she’s been playing laser-light tag with us two or three times a day, but she doesn’t even need to get out of her chair to do that. And sometimes she cheats and uses the laser to get us off the catio and in for the night.

Nor is she required to leave her chair to let us in or out whenever we ask. She doesn’t even turn to see who is at the door. If she hears one of us scratching or asking with a polite meow to enter or exit, she opens the door and holds it open for what she thinks is long enough for us to enter/exit. Then she closes it without looking. If we’re a little pokey, she’ll close the door before we ever get in or out. Once she even closed the door right on Astrid.

On Tuesday, she spent three and one-half hours in the garden. We think that is far too many hours in one day, especially as she spent two other days this week planting flowers. One of those days was in the pot garden on the upper deck. We were able to spend time with her, but she wasn’t paying any attention to us, except when she was telling Calista Jo not to eat the pepper plants and chives or grilling us on who dug half the dirt out of the pot of catnip. Did she honestly expect one of us to fess up? She can be so naive!

Then, of course, there’s the riding of the tandem bike. When that happens both the humans are away for at least two hours but sometimes even more if they stop somewhere for lunch.

All the hours she spends reading about cats on other blogs is a pure waste of time. We do have some personal favorite kitties in bloggy world, but we think the eight of us should be enough for her. Even worse, she demands that we write at least 90 percent of the comments on these other blogs, and that is eating into our nap and catio time.

And now she has started reading a book about another cat, The Cujo Cat Chronicles by Douglas Dunn and Cujo. We really find that to be incomprehensible. She’s reading his blog by the same name, and THAT should be enough.

Sewing Supervisor: Giulietta

Sewing Snoopervisor: Giulietta

Plus we read in her e-mail that she is going to make nip toys for Barn Cat Buddies Adoption Event on Saturday. We prayed she’d let us in on this activity but figured she’d shoo us to the catio; even though, it only seemed fair as Calista was adopted from one of these events and both Astrid and Lisbeth are BCBs. And usually if we get enough kitty spit on at least one toy, Mom will give it to us. As you can see from these photos we were able to find a way to get involved. If you click on the following link, you can see a video of Calista helping Mom: Quality Control Inspector #8: C.J.

Giulietta testing the strength of the thread.

Giulietta testing the strength of the thread.

And finally, last weekend Mom and Dad loaded up the tandem and left for almost four whole days. Mom refused our demands earlier in the week to write about this transgression as she hoped we would forget how miffed we were. NO way that ‘s going to happen. We may not be elephants, but we aren’t completely brain dead.

To their credit, they didn’t just fill our food and water bowls and leave us this time. We had our two favorite kitty sitters, Jeanmarie and Maggie. Jeanmarie used to be our vet (we like her anyway) until she moved away to pursue a dermatology specialty. When she comes home for visits, she always takes care of us if the humans are away.

Quality Control Inspector #6: Astrid

Quality Control Inspector #6: Astrid

Lisbeth made friends with Jeanmarie this time. She didn’t know Jeanmarie when she was our vet. And Lily Olivia gave Maggie kisses. We, as well as Maggie, almost dropped dead when that happened. Lily only gives kisses to Mom and Dad and only when she is feeling particularly generous. Lily caved only one night after they returned giving Mom 37 face kisses that night and 23 the next. Traitor!

Quality Control Inspectors 8, 7 & 6: C.J., Lisbeth, Astrid

Quality Control Inspectors 8, 7 & 6: C.J., Lisbeth, Astrid

Once again when the humans returned, they only stayed long enough to feed us and change their clothes. Then they went out to dinner and the symphony. We said we’d give them a symphony: a symphony of their transgressions and our complaints.

Mom said that Fiona could not complain or sign her name to this post as she got to leave the catio and spend a couple hours in the yard with Mom. She reported to us that she was a very good girl. She didn’t even fight or struggle when Dad picked her up and brought her in the house so he could mow the lawn. So that’s another thing that gripes us: Why does Fiona get to go in the garden and the remainder of us (except, of course, Lily, Mauricio and Misty May) are forced to stay in the house or catio? We’ll have to explore that conundrum in another post as we know we have rambled on way too long.

Purrs and hugs and complaints, Lily Olivia, Mauricio, Misty May, Giulietta, Astrid, Lisbeth and Calista Josette 

FIONA FRIDAY: THE BEST DAY EVER

Lisbeth, Giulietta and Fiona enjoy a little nip and their new scratcher lounge.

Lisbeth, Giulietta and Fiona enjoy a little nip and their new scratcher lounge.

At least in my opinion!

Wild-eyed Astrid

Wild-eyed Astrid

The humans went out around lunch time yesterday. They were away for about two hours. Some of us decided to stay in the house and some out on our screened deck.

When Mom and Dad arrived home, they had presents for us. We got a new scratcher. It’s also a lounger. And it came with NIP. We have pretty well decimated our old cardboard scratcher. And Mom’s been complaining about all the itty-bitty pieces of cardboard all over the floor and stuck to Giulietta’s furs. So, this was probably more of a gift for her than us. But, heck, we’re not going to complain.

We also got two new crunchy balls. They are one of our favorite toys, but we can’t seem to keep our paws on them. We think Mom hides them from us, but she says we lose them under appliances, dressers and other furniture. We’re not buying that lame excuse for one minute.

That made for a pretty exciting day for all of us. But I got an even better surprise.

"What's that? Is that a worm? Hey mom, I think I see a worm."

“What’s that? Is that a worm? Hey mom, I think I see a worm.”

Mom decided to work in the garden in the afternoon after she noticed bunches of dandelions in the side yard. She hates dandelions and wild onions (not as much as English ivy and honeysuckle, but they’re right up there).

Anyway, she took me with her. Of the five youngsters, I am the only one who gets authorized outdoor privileges. I don’t get to go without supervision, but I am not complaining. Mom will let me accompany her a few times a year as I am almost always a good girl. I stay close by and report to her whenever she calls me. Well, at least most of the time.

The snooper-visor, Misty May.

The snoopervisor, Misty May.

Before MacKenzie went to the bridge he was Mom’s yard snoopervisor, following her and plopping down nearby. Misty May has taken over that position, so when I am in the garden I’m free to explore.

See what a good girl I am.

See what a good girl I am.

1-1-Image 12

Misty May tired out from snoopervising takes a nap.

 

 

Mommy was out for three hours. I only got to stay out for two, but again…not complaining. When I came in I had a nice nap on the new scratcher. Like I said, best day ever!

Purrs and hugs, Fiona