Alasandra, The Cats & A Dog: 02/01/2009

Feline's Unusual Appearance Captivates Vet Clients

We thinks the cat looks majestic, like a pharaoh or something. We first read about him at HERP&ES.

PhotoHunt ~Thankful

We are THANKFUL spring is on the way. Our Yellowbell (that's what our Grandma calls it) is blooming, this means spring is on the way. Thanks to our friends Siena & Chilli over at Cat with a Garden we now know it's real name is Forsythia. We are very THANKFUL for this information as it will help us take better care of the plant. This year it bloomed really early, this picture was taken January 21st. After the flowers are through it gets green leaves which it loses in the fall.

PhotoHunt

Friends Friday

Maggy, Zoey & Ann the Zoolatry Human made this lovely picture to welcome Fenris to our blog. We have admired their art work for ages and we are humbled to have a picture from them featuring us. Be sure to drop by Zoolatry and read their post Friends Friday to find out "who's new in the garden?"

Thursday Thirteen ~Books

Thirteen Books I Read Recently

Be The Pack Leader by Cesar Millan with Melissa Jo Peltier ~ Well I disagree with Cesar about cats not being social animals. I don't think he understands cats at all. Cats are social, just on their terms and when they want to be. Cats value their privacy and like having their own space (territory) but enjoy the company of others when they are in the mood. Just ask Socks, Scylla & Charybdis. On the other hand Cesar understands dogs very well and offered some valuable insights and tips. I do wish he had offered tips on introducing cats and dogs, I guess I'll wing it. I have had cats and dogs before and they seemed to get along OK, so I guess my method works. Give them their own space and let them work things out for themselves.

A Secret Splendor by Sandra Brown - Arden agreed to be a surrogate for a rich couple in order to start a new life with her son Joey. After Joey dies she goes looking for her other son and finds more then she bargained for.

Above and Beyond by Sandra Brown - Trevor Rule was passed out drunk in his best friend's bed when a terrorist attack destroyed the barracks. Trevor is one of the few survivors. Now he is courting his best friend's widow, but what will happen when she discovers he is the reason her husband is dead.

The Monster of Florence A True Story by Douglas Preston with Mario Spezi - This is told in two parts first is The Story of Mario Spezi - Spezi was the first reporter to break the story of the serial killer who killed couples and mutilated the women's corpses, various people would be accused of the crimes at some points the police would even frame the suspects. The last theory involved satanic cults and black masses. Then the writer Douglas Preston came to Florence and Spezi told him the story...............Part II, The Story of Douglas Preston - Preston tells how he meet Spezi, how they decided to write a book together, who they think is the monster and why. And how the police arrested Spezi and threatened Preston with arrest if he returned to Italy.

Airman by Eoin Colfer - it lacks the wit of his Artemis Fowl series. Part I: Conor Brockhart was born in a hot air balloon, his childhood companion was Princess Isabella of Saltee, and he enjoyed the advantage of learning from the royal tutor. Then the King is killed and Conor is banished to the prison island of Little Saltee.

Honor Thyself by Danielle Steel ~ A famous actress loses her memory in a terrorist attack. On the road to recovery she discovers an old love.

Seize the Night by Sherrilyn Kenyon ~ Vampire Slayer/Goth Girl, Tabitha stabs Roman General/Mr. GQ/Dark Hunter, Valerius. Afraid Ash will be cross with her if she leaves him to die she takes him home even though her brother in law can not stand the guy. Sub plot Nick meets Simi and everything goes haywire.

Member of the Family by Cesar Millan ~ talks about how to find the right dog for you, how to introduce the dog to your family, including cats and much more informative information.

The Treasure by Iris Johansen ~Kadar Ben Arnaud has been summoned to find "the grail". Can he keep Selene Ware safe, find the grail and return safely to Montdhu?

Unleash the Night by Sherrilyn Kenyon ~ Wren Tigarian was orphaned as a cub. Without a pack of his own he grew up at Sanctuary, working as a busboy. Then he fell in love with the Senator's daughter, Marguerite D'Aubert Goudeau. The Were-Hunters want the couple dead, the Senator wants his daughter to find a more suitable mate then a busboy and Wren & Maggie just want to be together.

Silent Thunder by Iris & Roy Johansen - Marine architect Hannah Bryson teams up with an ex-Soviet Submarine Captain to track down the man who murdered her brother.

The Associate by John Grisham - Not sure why I didn't like the book. Maybe it's because I had a hard time caring what happened to any of the characters and kept thinking about how much good I could do with the money they were throwing away on stupid things. Basic plot the bad guys black mailed Kyle McAvoy into taking a job with a prestigious law firm where he got paid $400 an hour as well as enjoyed the perks of expensive meals and car services billed to the clients. He was suppose to steal sensitive documents for the bad guys but instead set up a sting with the FBI.

Run For Your Life by James Patterson & Michael Ledwidge ~ I am only half way through but I decided to go ahead and list it so I would have a post. This is the second book in the Detective Michael Bennett series. So far I am enjoying the trials and tribulations he has with the case as well as those he has with his large family. The first book in the series was very sad as his wife was dying, this time the kids just have a stomach bug.

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Wordless Wednesday ~Fenris

Twins on Tuesday ~Bedtime

I convinced Mommy that I needed to sleep with her. Mommy says I look like a little angel when I am asleep. ~Charybdis

Daddy bought me this pawsome bed. It is just the right size. He had to take some things out that go on his feet. Not sure why they were in my bed to begin with. Do I leave my shoes in his bed? (MOM: Silly Scylla you don't wear shoes) Well IF I did I wouldn't leave them in your bed.

And I just have to tattle on Fenris cause this is really funny. Remember I told you that I caught a mousie for Fenris, but that mean Mommy wouldn't let me bring it in the house. Well Daddy took Fenris for a walk in the front yard and Fenris found the mousie and he picked the deaded mousie up and started to take it to Mommy (cause the bad Daddy didn't have him on a leash) and Mommy SCREAMED really loud and ran really fast and started climbing a tree. Daddy was laughing so hard he could barely catch up with them to retrieve the mouse, so Mommy would stop acting STUPID. Socks and I think this is an excellant game and we have promised to bring Fenris more MICE. ~Scylla

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT FROM ALL OF US

Happy Birthday Eldest Boy Bean!!!!!!!!

Mancat Monday ~Socks

LC, Ayla & Iza gave us this PAWSOME Award!

“LOVE YA” award-winner… These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind of bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers. Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award.

Picking just eight bloggers is very hard cause we know lots of bloggers that deserve it. Since there are four of us, Mommy said we could each pick two so here are our eight.

MoMo
The Ozark Mountain Cats - some very handsome mancats blog there. (I bet you'll never guess which two kitties picked them? Yep, that's right my sisters, they have crushes on those mancats.)
JFF
Asta
Niko & Cloud
Parker
Opus - a very debonair mancat (Yep, it's my sissies turn again).
River

I don't have much to say. I have been spending lots of time outdoors away from the puppy, but I still come in to sit in my favorite chair or sleep in eldest boy beans bed. Life is good and there is always enough love for one more bundle of fur, even if it is a dog. I am sure we will be friends once he gets out of the excitable puppy stage.

~Socks

Scylla on Sunday

Fenris likes to play. He has already learned to play ball. He finally got tired of running around. He told Mommy he wasn't going to take another step.

Even though he has a great big water bowl of his own he likes to drink out of our water bowl. That's OK cause we drink out of his.

Guess who is under the table? He makes a good excuse for me to be on the table, kitchen cabinets and refrigerator. No Mommy I can't get down there is a big doggie down there. Mommy has been bringing plants in from the greenhouse to brighten up our home. This week it was the azaleas.

~Scylla

PhotoHunt Warm ~Scylla

It is very WARM under the sink. Especially when Mommy first folds the towels and they are still WARM from the dryer.

PhotoHunt

Flowers on Friday

The Dill in the greenhouse is doing good. We like the tiny yellow flowers it has. It is an herb that Mommy can use in her Dill Sauce for the Salmon Loaf. If it ever stops raining we are going to try to plant some in the Butterfly Garden. The Oregano we have planted there is doing good, it stayed green all winter.

The Camellia is getting ready to bloom. This picture was taken February 9th. The Camellia bloomed on Valentines. We will show you a picture of it's pretty red blooms soon.

~Scylla (the gardening cat) & Fenris (the assistant)

Bogart's Dad Needs Our Prayers

You can visit Bogart's blog here. Please join us in purring, praying and tail wagging for a miracle.

Tails on Thursday

Guess what!!!!!!

Cliff & Olivia let me join the Tail Chasers Club. My tail's name is Hróðvitnir which is Old Norse and means "fame-wolf". Not only do I chase my tail I can catch it. The cats love to watch me running in circles with my tail in my mouth.

~Fenris

Wordless Wednesday ~Scylla

Help Waveland Animal Shelter Win A Shelter Makeover

If any of our friends have Zootoo accounts we would like to ask you to support Waveland Animal Shelter, for the Shelter Makeover (we are trying to get as many points as we can for the shelter). This is the shelter Fenris was adopted from. Mommy was very impressed by them. Waveland & Bay St. Louis, Mississippi were very hard hit by Katrina. The shelter workers have their office in a trailer and the animals are housed in a shed. Everything is nice, neat and clean and the animals are very well cared for. Mommy said everyone who worked there was very friendly and seemed to care about the animals, so we want to help them as much as we can. They serve both Waveland & Bay St. Louis.

What some of you may not know is a lot of pets were left behind in peoples homes when they evacuated for Katrina. When their homes were destroyed the pets who survived fled into the woods. When their owners returned, they were unable to stay for long because all that was left was a slab (no utilities available) and many were unable to find their pets in the little time they had to look for them. Many of these pets were very stressed and wary of coming near people, and for whatever reason some of these pets were not spayed or neutered. Often by the time these pets were reunited with their owners they had already had a couple of litters. Thus there is still a high number of abandoned cats and dogs in this area. Triple R Pets has a very good summary of what happened to pets due to Katrina and their efforts to help, if you are interested.

Thanks for helping us help. ~Socks, Scylla, Charybdis & Fenris

Siblings on Sunday/ A little bit of hissing going on

Charybdis is confusing, she acts like she wants to play with me but then when I try to she fuzzes up and hisses. Scylla & Socks are friendly enough but they prefer to observe me from a distance and let me know they don't want to play so I don't chase them. I think eventually we will all get along. Mommy says I am a good boy because I don't chase them when she tells me not to. I am working on learning all the rules. I like being part of this family, my only complaint is Mommy keeps misspelling my name. It's FENRIS, Fen for short. I get to go on walks with Mommy. She even got me a collar that fits and she put this leash thing on me and we went down to the butterfly garden. I am not sure I like walking on a leash but I am learning. And she lets me sleep on the rug during the day when she is there to watch me. At night I have to sleep in my crate which I don't like. Maybe once I am house trained she will trust me to sleep on the rug at night too. And youngest boy bean plays with me a lot and he even sleeps outside with me during the day. The weather was pretty nice when I first got here. It's was in the 70's and it just rained Wednesday morning, but it was pretty that afternoon. But then Friday it rained, and rained, and rained. I am very tired of the rain, and it was still very wet Saturday, all of us siblings are tired of being cooped up inside. Monday I have to go to the vet to get my stitches out and for a well baby check up, Mommy says I will like Dr. Lisa.

Being more intelligent then Charybdis I choose to interact with Fenris through the fence. I always join him and Mommy for their morning walk. I walk on my side of the fence and Fenris walks on his, and if he gets out of line I am preparing to zap him with my laser eyes. Actually he has pretty good manners for a dog, especially for a puppy. I even go in the same room when he is out when he is sleeping and I walked over to the greenhouse with him and Mommy Thursday morning. Mommy opened the gate for me so I could join them. Fenris pretty much ignores me and just walks with Mommy like he is suppose to. I even brought him a present. I caught a charming little mousie for him but mean Mommy wouldn't let me bring it in the house. And I have heard rumors that dogs are suppose to be destructive monsters, so maybe I can blame some of my faults on him ..........although he is showing signs of being an obedient little tyke, altogether to well behaved for me to blame my misbehavior on him and be believed.

I am in the same room as the dog. Mommy says I am a trouble maker. I want to play with him, so I flick my tail around and lay on my back and wiggle until I get his attention. But then when he starts to come toward me, well he is BIG...............so I fuzz up and hiss at him, and run. He then chases me onto the carpet where HE ISN'T SUPPOSE TO BE. Mommy always rushes in and scoops him up and tells him he can't get on the carpet until she is sure he is house trained. And I taught him how to squeeze between the gate and the fence to get in and out. Who knew he was little enough to follow me, Kitty Cow (er Scylla) refuses to do it and demands the beans open the gate for her, and he looks bigger then Scylla to me. He still sleeps a lot. He usually lays at Mommy's feet while we visit our friends in the blogosphere. I thinks once I get used to him I will like him. He likes to play just like I do.

Socks (sorry there isn't a picture Mommy hasn't had much opportunity to use the flashy thing) actually I am not and we all owe Fenris big time for keeping Mommy to busy to follow us around with the flashy thing. Anyway I like him OK. I hung out with him some in the butterfly garden. He was tired so he mostly just laid under Mommy's butterfly chair while I checked him out. I did whap him Thursday night in the house when he got on the carpet. He should listen to Mommy she told him to stay off the carpet. I was nice though I kept my claws of doom sheathed so he was just scared not hurt. The silly thing went whining to Mommy like he was mortally wounded. She just laughed at him and told him that she had warned him to stay off the carpet. Then I got some lap time when the little guy fell asleep. We are sorry if we don't get to visit you and comment on your post but Fenris is very time consuming. We are sure things will settle down soon and we will get back on our regularly scheduled visits.

Valentines in Sicily

Valentine's Day is the traditional day on which lovers express their love for each other but we decided to stretch the definition a bit and make it a day where we celebrate our closest friendships. And what better way to do this than with an adventure trip! We booked rooms at the Castello San Marco near Taormina in Sicily and as there were so many of us Opus had to fly us down in the Magic Flying Van in two trips!

picture by Sassy

Here you see the first group (Stella, Stanley, Asta, Lacie, Charybdis, Momo, Socks and Scylla) waiting for the arrival of the second (Ruis, Karl, Opus and Sassy), who were working at the Little Production Studios late. Notice Socks has a tight grip on Scylla's paw. WE don't won't her wandering off and getting lost like she did in Ireland.

Charybdis, Scylla, Sassy, Lacie, Opus, Momo, Socks Karl, Ruis, Stanley, Asta
picture by Asta

We gathered in the impressive entry hall which was all decorated for Valentine! Isn't it beautiful? We are teasing Opus about the "mystery girl" in his life. We are dying to meet her. We thinks the cat has got Opus' tongue (ha, ha) as he hasn't divulged anything about her. The curiosity he has aroused in us is about to kill us. Who is this mysterious woman???????

(Picture by Karl)Ruis and Karl kindly got tickets for us to see the sights. We thinks they may have had an ulterior motive.

(Picture by Karl)

Sassy is an amateur Volcanologist and her desire for knowledge lead her perilously close to the lava flow high up on Mount Etna.

(Picture by Karl)

We found Sassy and then went on a little excursion through Taormina where Karl and Ruis rejoined us at the theater in Taormina.

Here we are all together again. Don't we all look spiffy?

Then we returned to the castle for a wonderful Valentine's Party!

picture by Asta

HAPPY VALENTINE!!!

Love is in the air..................... by Socks

Look what MoMo sent me for Valentines. Isn't it pretty, I shall treasure it always. We are going to a Valentines Party tomorrow. Australia is a day ahead, so today is already tomorrow there. So I am teleporting over to Australia today, which is already tomorrow so I won't be late giving MoMo my gifts. I don't mind telling you MoMo captured my heart the minute I laid eyes on her and the more I get to know her the more I love her. She is beautiful inside and out.

Happy Valentines my sweet MoMo, I hope you like the roses and the sparkly things I picked up for you.

Love, Socks XoXo

Flowers on Friday

Grandma calls this a yellowbell bush so that is what we calls it. We do not know it's real name. This is one of Mommy's favourite plants as it blooms early and reminds Mommy of Spring. Even though it is cold outside, it is blooming up a storm and looks very pretty.

These are some wildflowers growing down at the butterfly garden. We do not know their name but we love their delicate pale blue blooms. Both of these pictures were taken in January.

Mountain Ash Wildlife Shelter

We are purring for all of those who were hurt by the fires in Australia and praying that all our friends are safe.

We thought you would like to know about the efforts being made to help the wildlife, you can read about it here.

Wordless Wednesday ~ Tired by Scylla

Fenris ~ Day 1 & 2

(Monday)It was late when we got home. Mommy took me in the backyard and gave me some food and water and when I was through eating we walked around the backyard together. We kinda deviated from Cesar's advice because 1.) Since I was neutered that day I had not had anything to eat all day, so I was starving and 2.) I am a puppy. After that I came in and went to sleep. Mommy says that Charybdis came to look at me while I was sleeping, and eventually Scylla did too. I slept in a crate in the garage with the cats, and Mommy just had to get up ONCE to take me for a walk. I kept my crate clean all night.

(Tuesday)Today things are going well. Charybdis stays in the same room with me. She wants to be friends, but isn't ready just yet. Scylla is watching me from a distance and Socks is going about his regular routine. When he came in this evening I was asleep and Mommy says he walked right up to me and took a good sniff of my nose, apparently he didn't like the way I smell as he left the room. Mommy says he will accept me in time. It's not like anybody pulled a jeter harris or hissed or anything. They are just avoiding me. And get this Me, Mommy & Charybdis all set in the recliner together. Charybdis was in her spot on the back of the recliner and I was in Mommy's lap. Charybdis didn't care at all. I like her a lot I can't wait until we can snuggle. I miss having my litter mates to snuggle with. I have only had two accidents in the house today. I like being outside and would stay out there by myself BUT it is very windy today and Mommy was afraid I would get a cold so she insist I come inside to nap.

~Fenris

Tails on Tuesday by Charybdis

I am soaking up some rays. Do you want to know another BAD thing Scylla did?

Mommy was going to a Mardi Gra Ball and she has this real nice dress she wanted to wear. Anyway she keeps the dress in her closet with a dress bag over it to protect it from stuff. And she took it out of the closet and the dress bag was shredded, yep kitty claw marks all over the bag. And we know who did that don't we............yep, Scylla. Mommy was afraid her dress was toast but the dress itself didn't have a scratch on it. (huge sigh of relief) That may have been one fault too many, even for Mommy.

(Scylla meowing) They can't prove I did it. Nobody saw me do it. Therefore I didn't.

Mommy's Birthday Present

Hi my name is Marroc (If you don't think being named after a hobbit suits me Marrok is also the name of an obscure knight of King Author's Round Table, Sir Marrok (whose wife turned him into a werewolf for seven years). Youngest boy bean likes the name Fenris (aka Fenrir), so we will probably change my name to Fenris. Mommy found me at Friends of the Animal Shelter in Hancock County. I had only been there for a few hours when Mommy came to see me, after viewing my photo on Petfinder. I was listed as a Great Pyrenees [Mix], but Mommy thinks I look more like a Pyrenean Mastiff. The people at the shelter don't know anything about me as I was dumped with my litter mates at Stennis Space Center. Mommy and I fell for each other right away, but she had to leave me behind so I could be neutered. I was so scared the nice lady wasn't going to come back for me, but she did.

It seemed like the car ride to my new home took forever, Mommy says it was only an hour but that's a long time for a little guy like me. Now I am busy meeting my feline siblings and checking out the yard and exploring so we'll share more pictures and more info about me latter. Nice to meet everyone and if you are looking for a pup I had four litter mates, and some of them may still be looking for their forever homes.

Mancat Monday ~Socks

Winter time is a good time to snuggle.

Happy Birthday Mommy!!!!!!!!!! I will try to fetch your surprise later today if it is ready.

We thinks this is sad

San Clemente officials are planning to put an arbitrary cap on the number of pets that can live in your home. Read Pet rationing in San Clemente? by Steven Greenhut to find out more. We can't help wondering how long it will be before the government tries to tell beans how many bean babies they can have. Seems like the government tries to run beans lives for them. Anyways we thinks this is sad because so many cats and doggies need homes and if this law passes some cats and doggies that have homes may lose them.

Scylla on Sunday

I was sitting on the entertainment center, where I am NOT SUPPOSE TO BE, when I saw a bug.

I tried to get the bug but the silly curtain was in the way.

So I thought and thought about how I could get the bug.....................................

I can get you now Mr. Bug!!!!!!!!

Do you know that after all the trouble I went too I still didn't get the bug. He got away from me but MOMMY GOT HIM!!!!!! Who knew Mommy was such a good huntress.

Speaking of Mommy tomorrow is her birthday and we have a surprise for her. She may not get her surprise until Tuesday though, it has to be fixed, and I promise I AM NOT THE ONE WHO BROKE IT.

Bridge(s)

PhotoHunt

Flowers and Feathers on Friday

The Canna Lilies were blooming in the greenhouse. Mommy picked them to be a centerpiece for our table.

The yellow one is our favourite but the peach one with yellow trim is pretty too.

When Mommy was walking back from the greenhouse she saw this bird. We thinks it might be a hawk. It was too high up for Mommy to tell. She just knows it was a BIG bird and it was riding the air currents.

Wordless Wednesday ~ Spring is on the Way

We can help scientist

Mommy tells us how in her post Alasandra's Homeschool Blog: 12th annual Great Backyard Bird Count. We have been informed that while we can help Mommy count the birds we must not hunt them. That's OK cause we have some really neat birds visit us and we likes learning more about them. ~Socks, Scylla & Charybdis

7 dogs left in Rainsville, no notice on what day is their last

Drop by Hope 4 Dogs to read more.

The 7 dogs that are left have never seen cats or been around children so they don't need to go to a family that has toddlers. They aren't leashed trained so you will need a tall fence if you want to adopt one.

If you can't adopt they need someone to help transport the doggies that do have new homes, and of course help getting the word out helps too. You never know when someone will learn about Carrol's dogs and be able to help.

JFF has been following this story from the beginning and they have been great about posting updates even when their computer has been giving Jan fits.

We wishes we could do more to help these doggies, we are purring very hard that they will find new homes soon. ~Socks, Scylla & Charybdis

One Bad Habit ~Charybdis

I only have one bad habit, it is a holdover from my kitten days when I couldn't jump in Mommy's lap. I would reach up and try to pull myself into her lap. She would always reach down and scoop me up. Anyway sometimes I still try to pull myself up but since my claws are longer and stronger these days Mommy doesn't like it much when I do.

Mommy finally got around to helping me enter the 2009 Spay Day Online Photo Contest. I guess she saved the best for last.