Bugs, witches, and black cats

I saw a shieldbug stumbling around on the sidewalk when I was out for a walk.  It seemed to be hurt, so I bent down to watch it.  When it noticed me, it turned in my direction like it was asking for assistance, even trying to touch a wheel of my Rollator.  I carefully backed away and said I was sorry, but I didn't know how.  I have never before had a bug plainly beg me for help, but it seemed to know that I wouldn't hurt it.  Using the photos I took, I was able to identify it online.

That bug has wings and could fly, so that made me think of other flying things.  Since it's almost Halloween, how about a witch flying on a broom with a black cat?  (That cat reminds me of Clawdia, of course.)  That means today's thoughts are about bugs and witches and cats.  Specifically, black cats.  And my next-door neighbor has a broom like that picture among the decorations outside her door.  Another neighbor has a witch on a broomstick and other stuff on her door, too.  (I'll show you what they've done if and when I can ever get my photos on here.)

Declawing is torture for cats

Have I ever told you how Clawdia got her name?  Since her front paws had already been declawed, I named her Clawdia, spelled with a W.  I rescued a declawed cat and gave her that name so I could tell the story of her having been declawed.  It's the day after Friday, and very fitting I should write about Clawdia on a Caturday,

The continuing saga of Junie B. Dickens

Some of you long-time readers may remember the feisty little kitten that I wrote about three years ago.  That was in July of 2008.

1 - What the dickens?

This cute-as-the-dickens kitten was hiding from the rain under my roommate's car when she went out yesterday morning. Needing to get to church to teach a children's Sunday school class, she brought him to me. What could I do? I left a cellphone message that I'd miss church with family, but would meet them for lunch afterwards. In the meantime, this little dickens was exploring his new digs (interesting word) and thus totally annoying the two elderly cats who live here: Sammy, who is 13, and Kiki, who is 8 years old. You should have heard the deep-throat growling and spitting that went on! Sammy hid under Donna's bed, snarling whenever the little fuzzball appeared on her radar, but Kiki defended her turf, actively growling her "ERRRRMMM-mmmmm" whenever the hyperactive youngster cavorted too near the corner where she had retreated.

Surprisingly, this tiny fellow wasn't taking any guff from the big cats and would hiss right back at them. Once, having run from Kiki's hissey fit of snarling and spitting, he jumped into the litter box in the laundry room and said what I can only translate as "nyah-nyah-nyah-nyah-NYAH-nyah ... hisssss!" Then he pooped, covered it with sandy litter, and pranced right back into the living room where Kiki sat, quivering with righteous indignation that we humans had allowed this ... this ... strutting white ball of fluff into HER home.

I left the kitten closed up in the bathroom with a bowl of water and went out for lunch and an afternoon of swimming with my daughters and Cady and her mom's friend Laura. When I returned late in the day, Sammy was still under the bed and Kiki looked frazzled from listening to hours of "mew-mew-meow" emanating from the other side of that door. When I released the captive kitty, I found that everything on the counter had been knocked aside and dusty paw prints decorated the sink. (Had he first conquered any dust bunnies hiding behind the toilet bowl?)

To make a long story short(er), I must say it's been an interesting 24 hours. I was awakened at 7:30 this morning by the new cat (yes, this kitten does look like he could be related to Nucat, doesn't he?), who was ardently waging a battle against my elbow with his needle-sharp claws and teeth.

I have printed out these photos of the little dickens who has already captured our hearts and have added this caption: "Did you lose your friend? Found under car in parking lot on Sunday. To claim this cute-as-the-dickens feline, call Bonnie (phone number)." But I haven't yet taken his wanted poster to the mailboxes at the entrance to the apartment complex because I'm afraid someone will claim him.

By the way, can any of you figure out what we've named him? (Naming him means we've capitulated to the lure of his compelling cuteness and may have to keep him, right? I was afraid of that.)

2 - Dickens is now Junie B.

Kiki, Sammy, and I decided the little dickens who moved in on Sunday could be described as "tiresome" or maybe "more energy than a dynamo" or even "make it stop"! The non-stop kitten drained us of our energy. Donna, who missed about nine hours a day of "fun with kitty" when she went to work, was off on Wednesday and finally realized we really cannot keep such an active kitten who took a walk in my oatmeal and likes to tackle the tails of elderly cats. So she departed with kitty on a journey to the brand-spanking-new animal adoption place nearby. Kiki was so relieved that she came and sat in my lap for close to 45 minutes, sighing and content. When Donna returned in about an hour, all three of us ... Kiki, Sammy, and I ... stared in disbelief as the kitty bounced out of Donna's arms and back into our lives! What happened? The new place takes only 30 adoptions a day, with the next possible date being August 5th, and asked Donna to "foster" the little one a few more weeks.

We did learn something, however. I had thought, upon examination, that the kitten was a girl; Donna was sure she saw a couple of things I had missed and said it was a boy. The adoption center confirmed he's a she. So the little dickens needed a new name. We were going for literary and tried every female name possible ... until Donna thought of Junie B. Unless you have youngsters in your life, you may not know about the Junie B. Jones books by Barbara Park, which even little boys enjoy. Junie B. is always into something, like in this "Sneaky Peeky Spy" story. Aha, just like our little dickens! And the amazing part is that the kitten likes "Junie B." and totally ignored "Dickens" when we said it. Maybe she was trying to tell us something.

3 - Up a tree

Tonight, I read an email sent to the neighborhood listserv, and then I clicked to enlarge the accompanying photo.

What to my wondering eyes should appear ... but that little Dickens we re-named Junie B.  The neighbor wrote:

Hello neighbors,

Thanks to everyone for the suggestions on how to get our cat down from the tree. Sadly, he's still in the tree, but now about 65 feet up (the absolute top). The fire department is not insured to get cats out of trees, that's only a thing in the movies and really tiny towns.

Last night we had a climber 50 feet up in the tree and we tried shaking food, wet and dry, spraying him with the water bottle, bursting water balloons above him. And just shaking the tree. There's currently a 5-gallon bucket hanging about 10 feet below him with food in it, but he hasn't come down to it. I called some tree services with no response and I have heard from the arborist I called yesterday.

His meowing's getting weaker and I called the vet and they said after 5 days without water we need to worry about dehydration. This will be his 5th night in the tree.

Here's the tree and the cat in it. There's a big pine next to it that might be of use, but it's not close enough just to reach, I think you'd have to swing.

As frustrated as I am at the stupid cat, I still don't want him to die. Any more ideas?

Aha!  Frankly, I (Bonnie) think Junie B. Dickens is having fun with all the commotion around her/him. Speaking of which, the neighbor did say "he-his-him." Maybe Donna was right in the first place. I wonder what that neighbor named him.

UPDATE (Tuesday, October 11, 2011):

I emailed the neighbor, asking, "Have you had this cat about three years? He looks the one I've written about."  Here's her answer, along with the photo she sent.  Junie B.'s back was all white, and the patches by her ears were gray, not black like this cat.

"We've actually had him for 4 years. He does look a lot like the kitty on your blog. We got Optimus Prime and his sister Megatron (a black kitten) as a set about 4 years ago and they were maybe 6 inches long. He's just recently become an outside cat in the past two months, but he got spooked by a dog and then turned out to be afraid of heights. The good news is that an arborist went up and got him today (75 feet up) and when he came down he started purring and then wolfed down some food. So he'll be fine."

Speaking of cats

This is a three-part post, all cat-related.

1 - cat on the package in today's mail

When I came back from the mailbox with this package in my arms, Donna asked if I'd seen what was on the bottom. No, I hadn't noticed it (yet), but here's the photo I took of the cartoon cat before I even opened the package. The return address featured only a P.O. Box number and a zip code (no name or town), and I had assumed it was another of the books I had agreed to review. It was actually from Dewey. I won The Year of Living Biblically that Dewey gave away after she reviewed it last week, and it arrived in today's mail. Dewey, I had no idea you were an artist! I am so impressed. Thanks for the book.

2 - Dickens is now Junie B.

Kiki, Sammy, and I decided the little dickens who moved in on Sunday could be described as "tiresome" or maybe "more energy than a dynamo" or even "make it stop"! The non-stop kitten drained us of our energy. Donna, who missed about nine hours a day of "fun with kitty" when she went to work, was off on Wednesday and finally realized we really cannot keep such an active kitten who took a walk in my oatmeal and likes to tackle the tails of elderly cats. So she departed with kitty on a journey to the brand-spanking-new animal adoption place nearby. Kiki was so relieved that she came and sat in my lap for close to 45 minutes, sighing and content. When Donna returned in about an hour, all three of us ... Kiki, Sammy, and I ... stared in disbelief as the kitty bounced out of Donna's arms and back into our lives! What happened? The new place takes only 30 adoptions a day, with the next possible date being August 5th, and asked Donna to "foster" the little one a few more weeks.

We did learn something, however. I had thought, upon examination, that the kitten was a girl; Donna was sure she saw a couple of things I had missed and said it was a boy. The adoption center confirmed he's a she. So the little dickens needed a new name. We were going for literary and tried every female name possible ... until Donna thought of Junie B. Unless you have youngsters in your life, you may not know about the Junie B. Jones books by Barbara Park, which even little boys enjoy. Junie B. is always into something, like in this "Sneaky Peeky Spy" story. Aha, just like our little dickens! And the amazing part is that the kitten likes "Junie B." and totally ignored "Dickens" when we said it. Maybe she was trying to tell us something.

3 - and the winner is ... Nucat

Nucat showed up with a 6-5 winning vote in the poll that's been in the sidebar. But on counting the comments in the post about the voting, there seems to be a tie.

Nucat ~ June, Wendy, Chris, Stephanie, Teddy Rose, and Beth
Yella Cat ~ Ellen, Colleen, Linda, Marylyn, Lisa, and Donna

and the winner is ALSO ... Yella Cat

Since Nucat got the most votes in the opinion poll, I'll let him go first. Sorry, Yella Cat, but your turn will come. Yes, I know Junie B. got in the header first, back when I thought she was Dickens, back when I thought she was actually reading in that photo above. It turns out that she is still young enough to need a picture book and wasn't really reading Jim the Boy that was open in front of her. She's an intelligent cat, though, even if she has been known to walk through oatmeal and overturn three full glasses of water. So maybe we'll have her reading before she finds a more permanent home with some energetic children who will be able to keep up with her.

What the dickens?

This cute-as-the-dickens kitten was hiding from the rain under my roommate's car when she went out yesterday morning. Needing to get to church to teach a children's Sunday school class, she brought him to me. What could I do? I left a cellphone message that I'd miss church with family, but would meet them for lunch afterwards. In the meantime, this little dickens was exploring his new digs (interesting word) and thus totally annoying the two elderly cats who live here: Sammy, who is 13, and Kiki, who is 8 years old. You should have heard the deep-throat growling and spitting that went on! Sammy hid under Donna's bed, snarling whenever the little fuzzball appeared on her radar, but Kiki defended her turf, actively growling her "ERRRRMMM-mmmmm" whenever the hyperactive youngster cavorted too near the corner where she had retreated.

Surprisingly, this tiny fellow wasn't taking any guff from the big cats and would hiss right back at them. Once, having run from Kiki's hissey fit of snarling and spitting, he jumped into the litter box in the laundry room and said what I can only translate as "nyah-nyah-nyah-nyah-NYAH-nyah ... hisssss!" Then he pooped, covered it with sandy litter, and pranced right back into the living room where Kiki sat, quivering with righteous indignation that we humans had allowed this ... this ... strutting white ball of fluff into HER home.

I left the kitten closed up in the bathroom with a bowl of water and went out for lunch and an afternoon of swimming with my daughters and Cady and her mom's friend Laura. When I returned late in the day, Sammy was still under the bed and Kiki looked frazzled from listening to hours of "mew-mew-meow" emanating from the other side of that door. When I released the captive kitty, I found that everything on the counter had been knocked aside and dusty paw prints decorated the sink. (Had he first conquered any dust bunnies hiding behind the toilet bowl?)

To make a long story short(er), I must say it's been an interesting 24 hours. I was awakened at 7:30 this morning by the new cat (yes, this kitten does look like he could be related to Nucat, doesn't he?), who was ardently waging a battle against my elbow with his needle-sharp claws and teeth.

I have printed out these photos of the little dickens who has already captured our hearts and have added this caption: "Did you lose your friend? Found under car in parking lot on Sunday. To claim this cute-as-the-dickens feline, call Bonnie (phone number)." But I haven't yet taken his wanted poster to the mailboxes at the entrance to the apartment complex because I'm afraid someone will claim him.

By the way, can any of you figure out what we've named him? (Naming him means we've capitulated to the lure of his compelling cuteness and may have to keep him, right? I was afraid of that.)

Vote for your favorite

About the time this blog was overrun by cats last year, two very different reading felines spent time in my header. Yella Cat, on the right, stayed until he heard that Dewey wanted to turn him into a lolcat. He went on to stardom in the lolcat world, and almost immediately Nucat, on the left, showed up (read the comments on Yella Cat's post). Nucat purred a lot when you readers praised his round, Charlie-Brown-shaped head, but one day he up and left without a word. Didn't even collect his last kitty-treat paycheck. Just left. I think he found something more exciting to do.

Can you believe that just yesterday they BOTH showed up again? Yes, really! And they both want the job back. I explained that I'm very happy with the panorama of Cape Town, South Africa, in the header up above. On the other hand, it's been there awhile and I'm thinking that maybe it's time for a change. But which cat shall I choose?

Please refer to the voting thingy in the sidebar and help me out, here. Should I give the header job to Nucat or Yella Cat? Or should I find another cat who can read? I've had several applicants during the past year. Then again, some of you may prefer my cat-less headers ... or even the urban raccoons I had there once.


One last request: Would you also comment here so I'll know your reasons for choosing one header or another? Thank you, thank you, and thank you, all.

Cat's Eyewitness ~ by Rita Mae Brown

Kiki, the con artist

My Kiki cat is quite good at lying for a good cause, but sometimes we have to laugh at her. When my roommate Donna comes home from work, Kiki will tell her she hasn’t had her afternoon treats yet ... and Donna’s cat Sammy will come running to sit on the piano hoping Kiki convinces the human that they are poor, pitiful, starving kitties who never get their treats on time. The only trouble with their scheme is that I’m usually right there in the room. Donna looks at me and says to Kiki, "But you already HAD your treats." Kiki, the more talkative of the two, says plaintively, "Maiow mew mew." Donna says, "Yes, you did." Kiki replies, "Meow miahow mew!" Donna says again, "Yes, you DID." Kiki, "Meow miaow MEOW, myou." They never seem to notice that humans communicate with each other as well as with them. Finally, Kiki gives up and plops in the floor with her back to Donna, and Sammy sighs.

And that brings me to the subject of the book I completed last night, Cat's Eyewitness, a mystery written by Rita Mae Brown and her furry partner Sneaky Pie Brown. First off, I've gotta say, this is NOT one of their better collaborations. The idea was good, but reading it was mostly a waste of time. I would have put it aside, except for the fact that I was reading it for a reading challenge ... and wanted to put Kiki alongside the investigative trio (the meddling menagerie?) of indefatigable felines Mrs. Murphy and Pewter, along with the dogged corgi Tee Tucker. If that isn't too twee for you and you are still reading along, let's run through my book review and get this over with:

Title, author, date of book, and genre?
Cat's Eyewitness, by Rita Mae Brown, 2005, mystery

Summarize the book without giving away the ending.
Murder, another murder, suspects, a few interesting details, case solved.

Were there any especially interesting characters?
Umm, well, no.

Did you think the characters and their problems were believable?
The story was a bit more far-fetched than usual.

What did you like most about the book?
It reads quickly.

What did you like least?
I wanted to know whodunnit, but I never really got involved in the story.

Share a quote from the book.
The notes I took have nothing to do with plot or characters ... but with words I noticed. (Does this tell you how "uninvolved" I was with what the book was supposedly about?)

So long as "man" is the measure of all things, women will be shortchanged (p. 72). (Makes sense to me!)

Cooper pulled up the wooden chair, an old office chair from the 1940s (p. 176). (I made a note of this because I wondered if it's like the chair I'm sitting in now, as I type this review into my computer, a chair that once belonged to my paternal grandfather, who died in 1944.)

doodley-squat (p. 189) (Hmmm, I've always heard it as "diddley-squat.")

jimmy-rigged (p. 202) (Hey, I looked up jerry-rigged and jury-rigged just this week!)

What do you think will be your lasting impression of this book?
I don't think I'll have a lasting impression. None of the Mrs. Murphy mysteries is deep and challenging, but this one seemed less, somehow, than any of the others I've read, which were more entertaining.

How would you rate this book?
Rated: 4/10, struggled to finish, but not worth it.

The Fur Person ~ by May Sarton

Title, author, date of book, and genre?
The Fur Person ~ by May Sarton, 1957, a fictional memoir (of sorts)

What made you want to read this book?
I read it for two challenges (Outmoded authors and Four-legged friends).


Summarize the book
The Fur Person is May Sarton's fictionalized account of her cat Tom Jones's life and adventures prior to making the author's acquaintance. Tom starts out as a fiercely independent, nameless street cat who follows the ten commandments of a Gentleman Cat, one of which states that "A Gentleman Cat allows no constraint of his person, not even loving constraint." But after several years of wandering from place to place, he grows tired of his vagabond lifestyle and concludes that there might be some appeal after all in giving up the freedom of life on the streets in exchange for a loving home.

I called this a fictional memoir because this Cat about Town finds an acceptable home with two Voices; Sarton's preface tells us those voices are "Brusque Voice (myself) and Gentle Voice (Judy Matlack)." Tom Jones moves in with May and Judy and becomes a Gentleman Cat. After a trip to the hospital, the Gentleman Cat becomes a Gentle Cat and no longer wants to fight. In time Tom becomes a genuine Fur Person and adds this Eleventh Commandment: "A Gentleman Cat becomes a Fur Person when he is truly loved by a human being" (p. 117, LP).

What did you think of the main character?
I loved his attitude, exemplified in his poetry (pp. 82-83, LP):

I'm a whiffling wonder
And my purr's like thunder,
I'm an elegant fellow
And my temper's mellow
And my eyes as green
As have ever been seen;
I've a coat like silk,
Paws white as milk,
I'm a catly cat,
An aristocrat
If you wish to see
Tom Jones, I'm he.
This Jones victorious
Glossy and glorious
Lordly and lazy
And catnip crazy
Yes, glorious Jones
Is me!

How would you rate this book?
Rated: 8/10, a very good book.
__________

Kailana's last rule for the Four-legged friends challenge is to tell something about our pets in our introductory post. I have had a number of pets ... turtles, puppies, fish, kitties, salamander, and a hamster named Herman, for example ... but the ones I have bonded with have mostly been cats. So in my introductory post I wrote about Duchess, the cat who waited to walk me home on school days. My Gentleman Cat, however, was named Jack.

Jack and Jill
When my twin daughters were five and my son was two, they found under the tree on Christmas twin kittens, one male and one female. I have never been able to tell one from the other until cats grow up, but we told our children which we THOUGHT was which. We were, of course, wrong. Before we learned we had mislabeled the kittens, the children had chosen names from among their favorite stories, and the furry babies became Jack and Jill. Or Jill and Jack. Within a few months one darted under the wheels of a car and "Jill" lived on ... until the day it was undeniably clear that "she" was Jack. I'm sure Jack was totally confused when he received his sister's name, after having been Jill up until then. But it was clear that he knew the word meant HIM ... whenever he heard "Jack," even in the middle of a sentence spoken between humans, he would twitch his ear in our direction even if we thought he was asleep across the room.

Jack was an outdoor cat who loved to chase squirrels. When he spied one in the dogwood tree, up he would go after the critter, who simply hopped to a branch of a nearby tree and chattered heatedly at Jack, who sat dejectedly in the dogwood tree like an oversized gray-and-white Persian blossom. Lest you believe Jack was not a hunter, however, let me assure you he brought in his share of "gifts" to the family. One Sunday morning I left my children at home getting ready for church (my mother lived downstairs) and dashed off to the office to make copies for a Monday morning business trip. When I got home, I saw my 10- or 11-year-old son coming across the back yard from the woods. He was dressed for church, crying, and dragging the double-bladed axe. My heart stopped! Until I heard the story. Jack had brought a twitching rabbit onto the patio, and my young son told me he knew if I'd been there, I would have put the dying animal out of its misery. "But Mom, I knew you'd kill he if I used the 22-rifle," he said. Darn tootin! Instead, my kind-hearted child used the axe ... almost, but not quite, as bad as the rifle. And he managed NOT to get blood on his Sunday suit. I was so proud of him for doing that, something that he knew was the right thing to do, even though his little heart was breaking when he did it. I never saw the rabbit because my little boy took care of the problem.

Jack the Gentleman Cat probably wondered about his humans ... didn't they recognize what a gift he had shared? Usually what Jack shared was laundry time. When I would come to the basement laundry room, Jack would follow me and sit on a window sill or the dryer to talk to me while I stuffed the washer with dirty clothes. Since he spent a lot of time roaming the neighborhood, he himself would sometimes be the one who came home bloodied and scarred. One evening about dusk I got a call from a neighbor, telling me my cat had knocked over a large $100 vase on her front porch. By the time my husband got on the phone with her, the vase was worth $200. I got the car keys to go find Jack, went to the basement garage, and found Jack sound asleep on top of the car ... and the garage door was firmly closed. Not. My. Cat! Oh, you can't imagine how happily I called the woman back to inform her the naughty cat was someone else's! Jack, my sleeping fur person, was totally exonerated!

Four-Legged Friends

The Four-Legged Friends reading challenge is in memory of Sandy, Kailana's best friend of 12 years, who recently died. That's Sandy in the photo. Kailana brought Sandy home on September 20th, so we have a short lead time, but five months to complete the challenge. Read books that have an animal as the main character or an animal who plays an important enough role that you remember it afterwards. They do not have to believable, but the animals do have to be real, as in, no dragons. Kailana counts The Guardian by Nicholas Sparks, for example, because the dog in it makes the book one of her favorites. The aim is to honor our pets (even if they don't have four legs), and length doesn't matter ... reading a picture book of Bambi to your child or grandchild counts. The most outrageously fascinating thing Kailana added to her "rules" was this:

My suggested food while you are reading? Baby carrots. I used to munch on carrots and never really think to give them to Sandy, but she loves them! So, baby carrots turned into half the bag for me and the other half for her. Actually, that's what I did with her for her last night. I ate carrots with her. She did not eat a lot, but I think baby carrots will always remind me of her.

Her last "rule" is that we tell something about our pets in our introductory post. I have had a number of pets ... turtles, puppies, fish, kitties, salamander, and a hamster named Herman, for example ... but the ones I have bonded with have mostly been cats.

When I was nine years old, a neighborhood boy and I were splashing in rainy puddles when a bedraggled kitten found us. My mother said it looked like a drowned rat (well, mouse ... the kitten was very small), and Micky's mother wouldn't let him bring it into their house. After due consideration, Mother decided to let me keep the kitten. I named her Duchess, and she slipped right into our family like she had always belonged there and grew to be very regal indeed, a beautiful soft gray cat with white paws and a white spot below her chin that moved like a dog's tag when she walked. Duchess had her first litter of kittens in my drawer on top of my socks and underwear; it must have been the softest place available to her at the time. When I was in high school, we rode the regular city buses to school and home again in the afternoon, yet Duchess was always at the bus stop to meet me. How did she know which of the buses that ran every 20-30 minutes all day would be the one I rode? I don't know, but her internal clock was set and there she was, waiting to walk home with me. One part of this challenge is dedicated to the memory of Duchess.

Hmm, I was going to tell you about Duchess, Pippa, Jack, and Kiki in this post. But I think I'll tell you about the others when I post my book reviews. Since I'm about to finish a book about a dog named Merle and one about a gentleman cat, I already have two books for my list.

1. Merle's Door: Lessons from a Freethinking Dog ~ by Ted Kerasote ~ dedicated the memory of Pippa
2. The Fur Person ~ by May Sarton ~ dedicated to the memory of Jack
3. Cat's Eyewitness ~ by Rita Mae Brown and her cat Sneaky Pie Brown ~ dedicated to Kiki
4. Goldie (The Puppy Place Series #1) ~ by Ellen Miles ~ dedicated to the memory of Herman
5. Sign-up for this challenge ~ dedicated to the memory of Duchess
__________

Click on a title to read my review of the book.
__________
The list of participants can be found HERE.

Cats are all over this blog!

Miaow, no treats, but I found a mouse. Not very lively, though.



Oh, no, there are cats all over this page, all looking for treats ... 18 ... 19 ... 20 ... probably more! And I've already given out all the treats to cats who got here earlier. Dewey, Neco, Colleen, Susan, Margreet, anybody! May I borrow some cat treats, please? Oh, now they are playing with my computer! Help, someone!

They are even on the FLOOR of this blog! Shoo! Go home!



...25 ... 26 ... was that a dog? ... 27 ... 28 ...
Here, kitty-kitty-kitty-kitty.
Please, people, take your cats HOME. Kitty-kitty-kitty-kitty-kitty!
No, don't use your claws! Be a nice little kitty ... ouch! Bad kitty!

WARNING: If you are allergic to cats, please wear a face mask while reading my blog this week.

No-no-no, cat, not there! Grrrrrrrr, where are the paper towels?

Woof ... I mean, MEOW ... we like treats too!

Oh, good grief! Someone just told me a couple of kittens went to the wrong blog and are worried about the ocean in my Words from a Wordsmith post. Are cats showing up on anyone else's blogs?

Hello, little kittens, it took you long enough to find the right blog!

Cat says, "So long!"

I've been posed here, reading the same page of this book, for quite long enough now. I'm an adventurous feline who is tired of sitting around, so ... I'm outa here! Yes, I know some of you think I can't REALLY read, but I noticed a comment Dewey made a few days ago, right here on this very blog. She wants to turn me into a lolcat. I'm not exactly sure what that means, but it sounds like fun, so bye ... I'm slinking on over to Dewey's place to see what's happening. Maybe I'll drop back by, one of these days. Maybe not. It's been fun watching all you people coming here to read the posts, to laugh, to comment, to borrow ideas. Why should I miss all the fun?




I didn't see any treats, did you?





But I'm being such a nice, sweet kitty. Don't make me bare my claws.