happy new year!

mommy and daddy are back from seattle. mommy was hissing about the traffic there -- apparently, the people there cannot drive in good weather and are even worse drivers in snowy/slushy weather. i am glad that i was not up there for their big snow -- it would have been very confusing for a black cat like me. mommy said that she and members of her family had to dig the snow and ice out of her grandma's driveway. i don't think my paws would have helped with that!

mommy and daddy also had to climb through some big piles of snow to get to a car that could take them to the airport on saturday morning. again, i am glad that i was not there -- i would have been buried in the snow and mommy said that she almost was!

they had a good trip though. they stayed with mommy's grandma and got to see mommy's parents and members of mommy's family. they left us (!!!!) but we had our favorite babysitter. mommy's godmother also made us catnip toys with the bestest catnip in the world. (mommy says it comes from a place called pike place market in seattle. wilbur, does your mommy get you catnip from there?) we have played with our catnip toys all evening. :)

mommy said she missed us but she had to love up her grandma's kitty whose name is emily. emily is a calico cat and looks like a smushed-together version of my brother cullen and i. she is fluffy and black with red tabby splotches. i would like to meet her someday if i can go to seattle with mommy.

=^..^=

meowy christmas

my babysitter couldn't come over to help mommy wrap presents on monday because there was too much snow. my sister freya and i "helped" though. i helped mommy hold down the fleece she was cutting for a blanket and then the two of us "helped" mommy wrap presents by playing with the towel on which she was wrapping them. first, i noticed this black thing moving and started chasing it... before realizing that it was my tail. then... freya started chasing my tail. mommy sure rolls her eyes a lot when she is using wrapping paper and tape. we also held the wrapping paper down for her. we are good helpers. :)

mommy was home today except for her and daddy having to go to church. i got snuggles in the morning and then mommy played with us using a long piece of leftover fleece. we played so much that i got tired and had to take a nap!

mommy and daddy are home tomorrow after noon and then until friday night when they leave for great falls to go to the airport. while they are home, mommy will be trying to transfer her files over to her new laptop. i can't wait to blog from it!

=^..^=

too cold for black cats

it was -42 counting the windchill on saturday. mommy tried going into town but got sick all over herself and had to deal with her stomach contents freezing on her. (daddy went out and cleaned the car in the freezing weather.) i had to give mommy extra cuddles because she was bundled under blankets. she was sick again on monday but she had gotten an electric blanket so she had a way to keep us both warm.

there has been lots of snow and i have been very confused because it is all white outside. mommy has tried explaining it to me but i still do not understand the color white.

mommy is going to see if my babysitter can come over and wrap christmas presents for her on monday in exchange for love time with me. i hope she can come over. my babysitter is very nice.

=^..^=

winter in montana

it is supposed to get below 0F this weekend for the first time this winter. it is not too much of an issue for me because i am an indoor panther and can stay warm. mommy is not happy because she has to go outside and drive to work in the cold. she is wondering how she ever used to like winter! we are also supposed to get snow.

mommy was home yesterday because she was feeling icky so i gave her cuddles and we watched a show on animal planet called "growing up black bear". as mommy and daddy tease me about being the black bear cub, it was fun to watch.

right now, i am being a bookcase kitty and curling up in the corner of a bookcase in mommy's study. my sister freya is very mad that i am in her study but mommy is not letting her beat me up.

=^..^=

more snow!

it snowed on tuesday. mommy was not happy because it made her commute very bad. it was the most snow we have had this winter and i was very confused by the white world outside and me being a black cat. i meowed at daddy to try and get an explanation but he did not have one for me.

i woke mommy up at 6:30 this morning, forgetting that it was not a work day for her. she rolled over and went back to sleep for another 7 hours. i curled up with her toward the end of it and went to sleep at her feet. my brothers found spots in the living room and we all took naps with her. mommy appreciated it when she woke up and found us.

no kitten pictures of the one in her belly because mommy has not found a scanner that works yet. she will try to have them for me to post in the next week or so.

=^..^=

headaches and kitten pictures

i saw mommy's pictures of the kitten in her belly. i agree with her -- it still looks like a sea monkey! mommy will scan them this weekend so that i can post a few on here. both mommy and daddy were very excited to see what the kitten in mommy's belly looked like on the ultrasound screen. mommy said it was waving its little paws at them!

mommy is home today with a headache. thank goodness for mary (her headache vet) who found a medication that mommy can take to make her headache go away! she felt better by the afternoon but still stayed down to rest. it meant extra cuddles for me, so i'm not complaining!

off to take the christmas tree apart!

=^..^=

kitten pictures

mommy has to have an ultrasound tomorrow. she told me that it is for taking pictures of the kitten in her belly. i asked if she would find out whether it was a tomcat or not. she said that she would not this time but she would probably find out when they do one in february.

mommy has been home for the last three days because of thanksgiving. i have enjoyed having her home and i will be sad when she has to go back to work tomorrow. she has been giving me lots of cuddles.

=^..^=

thanksgiving

it is thanksgiving in the usa today so mommy advised me to make a list of things for which i am thankful.

i am thankful for...
-my mommy and my daddy
-my brothers cullen and finian and my sister freya
-tuna
-windowsills on sunny days
-mommy's crocheting when she leaves it unattended
-my friends online
-places i can make into cat caves
-laundry piles on which i can sleep
-days when mommy is home on the couch and gives me extra snuggles

mommy and daddy did not have anywhere to go this year so they had a quiet day at home. mommy made lasagna and garlic bread and they had a nice dinner together. maybe i will get tuna later on for my thanksgiving meal.

=^..^=

still have a sick mommy

mommy is still sick with the cold that daddy and some other people gave her. she has been in bed for the last four days and my brother cullen and i have kept her company when she has been on the couch sleeping or watching tv. she thinks she is probably crazy but she wants to go to work tomorrow. i don't know if i want her to or not. i get extra cuddles if she is home but if she goes to work, she can buy me tuna.

the montana state bobcats were beaten soundly by the university of montana grizzlies yesterday so i am not a happy panther. mommy watched part of the game with me but she's not a huge fan of american football so she tried to find other things to watch. i just hope the carolina panthers win their game today.

=^..^=

message for huffle

psst! huffle!

give your mommy and daddy much cattitude when they take you to your panther doctor. pee in the carrier if necessary.

also... tell your mommy that mommy appreciated the comments on her pregnancy blog. she can use cheerleaders, especially ones that give unsolicited advice. ;) (mommy told me that the previous comment was supposed to be sarcastic but she honestly appreciates cheerleaders of any kind. advice is, i guess, also good in any case.)

i have been keeping mommy company and sleeping with her the last couple days and purring for her. she says that it has made being sick less icky. i have liked having her curled up on the couch. i get unlimited laptime even if it means that she isn't buying me tuna. (she says i have to eat the stuff in the refrigerator first. however, i can't open the packets by myself so i need her to help me!)

=^..^=

switching places

mommy is home sick for the second day in a row. well... yesterday, she was gone to great falls to see her headache vet. she almost collapsed on the floor when she got home because she was so exhausted. today, she has been sleeping most of the time. this sickness is not due to the kitten in her belly though -- daddy gave her the cough he had and she has lost her voice. she is trying to get better so she can go to work tomorrow to earn money to buy me tuna.

while mommy is up here on the laptop, i have taken over my sister freya's computer spot. usually, freya curls up on the camping chair next to mommy. freya is not around though so i am taking over the chair! i hope freya does not come upstairs and make me give it back!

=^..^=

life here on the montana prairie

it is very windy today. mommy came home from church and errands with her hair blown in every direction. i am glad that i am not an outdoor cat because i might be blown away.

i asked mommy about the questions you all have and she suggested i interview her so she can answer all my questions at once. here's a picture of the two of us. mommy says to forgive her for the messy hair -- it hasn't been the same since the wind blew it around. her comments are the slanty-typed ones.



-hi mommy.
-hey princess.
-my friends online have questions about the kitten in your belly. will you answer some of them?
-sure. let me turn the space heater on first so you can have your black cat sauna time.
-everyone wants to know what it is. do you know yet?
-nope. we won't know until around february 15th at the earliest when i go have a picture taken of the kitten in my belly by a special machine called an ultrasound. are you hoping for a brother or a sister?
-khyra asked me that last question. i think i want a sister but i will be happy with whatever comes out. what are you and daddy going to call the kitten?
-if it is a tomkitten, it will definitely be "daniel james". if it is a little girl, we like "kathleen moira" or "katie" for short. we also might just name her "cady moira".
-huffle's mommy wanted to know how your vet appointments have been. huffle said you can scratch the vet if you don't like what is being done.
-i wish i could scratch my doctor (what we call the human vet) if i didn't like what was being done! actually, i like my doctor. her name is michelle and she is wonderful. she is happy with how i am doing. when i go in, they take a urine sample to make sure things are ok and they listen to my heart/lungs. they also have taken blood to make sure that certain things are at appropriate levels. i am excited for the next appointment because we might be able to hear the kitten's heartbeat.
-will i have to bathe the kitten?
-no. daddy and i will give it baths in the sink like we did with you when you were much smaller.
-will i have to feed it? will it give me tuna?
-no. daddy and i will feed it, mostly me. i don't think it will be able to give you tuna until it is much bigger. you only get tuna on special occasions anyway.
-how big is the kitten right now?
-it is the size of a jelly bean. oh wait... in cat terms, it is about the size of one of your paw pads.
-that small?
-yes, that small. it will get much bigger very quickly though.
-when does the kitten come out of your belly?
-the estimated due date is june 20th. it could be before or after that date though.
-will it love me? will you still love me?
-of course you will still be loved by daddy and i. you are our love panther!!! the baby will learn to love you as it grows up and we will try very hard to teach it not to pull your tail.
-will there be lots of visitors when it comes?
-there probably will. the only ones you have to be nice to are your grandmothers (who will probably give you tuna to make them like you -- the rest you can ignore or hide during their visits.
-i think that is the end of my questions. thank you mommy!
-no problem, sweetheart. if your friends have any other questions, they can go to my pregnancy blog.

here is the t-shirt mommy was wearing today:



=^..^=

mommy's vet appointment

mommy's vet appointment about the kitten in her belly went well. the kitten is not big enough for them to be able to listen to its heartbeat yet and they cannot tell whether it is a tomcat or a little girl. mommy is doing well except for being very tired these days. i have to give her lots of cuddles on the couch.

it is nasty and snowy and windy outside. i do not like it one bit!

=^..^=

busy week!

we got snow on election day. that made me very nervous and the next day, i kept chirping at mommy who was on the couch sick with a migraine because i didn't know what to do with snow. it is white. i am black. it is the opposite of me!

mommy also reminded me last week that my sister freya and i had come to live with them 5 years ago! we were adopted from a vet in granville, ohio near where daddy was doing his pastor training. they adopted my brothers cullen and finian from there one year before they adopted freya and i. we were a surprise adoption and mommy said they fell in love with us when they first saw us. i was 4 months old when they adopted me. freya was 8 weeks old, a squirt of a kitten, and had been fostered with rottweilers. they adopted me with her to teach her how to be a cat!

mommy has a vet appointment tomorrow to check on the kitten in her belly. she is a little bit nervous but i think it will go ok.

=^..^=

noooooooooooo!!!!!!!

it snowed today!!!!! it is all white outside!!!! what is a black cat like me to do??????

=^..^=

what to do with a human kitten

here's a picture of the cat-o-lantern mommy carved for my black cat day:



many of you know that mommy has a kitten in her belly that will be coming out next june. i need to know what to do with a human kitten. do i have bathe it? can it pet me? will it give me tuna? those of you who live with human kittens: can you give me any advice?

=^..^=

black cat day

first, i'd like to wish a happy black cat day (hallowe'en) to huffle and all the other house panthers! today is our special day!!!

mommy needed a costume so she put on her black cat ears and tail and went to work that way today. she gave me lots of pets before she left and told me how special this day was for me. when she got to work, she realized that she needed to add to her costume, so she got a computer mouse and dangled it out of her pocket so she could say that she caught a mouse. (her co-workers think she is a geek. i kind of agree.)

one of her co-workers was dressed as a witch so mommy became her black cat. this co-worker gave mommy a black cat which she introduced to me tonight. it's name is trickery.


i think trickery is cool.

we had lots of human kittens coming around in costume tonight. one was even dressed as a black cat! mommy got home in time to see a few of them. here is mommy in costume with me.



mommy doesn't have the mouse on her hip because she had to leave it at work.

it has been a good black cat day today!

=^..^=

revenge

first (for mr. sippi, mama, and beautiful carolina), here's a picture that grandma took of me and my brother finian:




my sister freya has been beating me up every time i try to come in and blog so... here are the pictures to prove that she's a sweet lapkitty. she was on grandma's lap and mommy snapped the pictures.





not such a ferocious cat are we, freya?

=^..^=

pizza and a movie night

no picture of me today because mommy does not have any new ones. (grandma needs to send her some that were taken when she was visiting us.)

mommy and daddy had our babysitter over for pizza and a movie last night. they do not usually have company over on work nights because mommy gets tired but my babysitter is special. they had their pizza (which they did NOT share with me) and watched godspell which is a weird movie based on the bible. after the movie, they discussed a bunch of things.

i did not come out to see my babysitter the last time she had to babysit me but because mommy and daddy were home, i came out to see her and was a love kitty for her. she was very happy because she likes black cats like me. while i was playing with my babysitter, mommy was working on a blanket for the kitten in her belly. she would not let me help with the yarn though. :(

the kitten in mommy's belly is doing just fine and mommy went to her vet today to check in. she and daddy came home relieved so it must have been a good appointment. she goes back in two weeks for a regularly scheduled kitten-in-belly appointment (i think the humans call it "pre-natal").

=^..^=

panther saunas

here is a tummy picture of me:



it's cold in the house as mommy and daddy were gone much of last night with mommy having to go to the hospital for medication issues. (they took her off one of her pills because of the kitten in her belly and the effects of going off the pills made her very sick.) when mommy got home from the hospital today, she brought her space heater upstairs which meant that i am getting to have time in my panther sauna which is the space under her desk where all the heat goes. mommy is also really sleepy so i might have to give her extra panther love tonight.

=^..^=

weekend with grandma and grandpa

here is a picture of me playing with mommy. you can see mommy's paw at the bottom.



grandma and grandpa (mommy's parents) were here from friday afternoon until monday morning. mommy gave me tuna on friday to entice me to be a social panther. if she insists. :)

grandma played with me a lot and gave me lots of petting and love. i broke my own rule and was a lap panther for her on sunday morning to reward her. she did not bring me any toys but that was ok -- she gave me love.

my sister freya was a lap gremlin for grandma (which she never does for mommy or daddy) and even let grandma brush her while she was on grandma's lap. mommy got photographic evidence of this which i will have to use to blackmail freya later.

my brother cullen was invisible for most of the weekend -- he is scared of people and did not want to come out for grandma even though grandma loves orange cats.

mommy is doing ok with the kitten in her tummy except for getting sick yesterday and having to come home from work early today because her sickness had gotten so bad. i think it has something to do with them changing around her medication so that it won't hurt the kitten in her tummy. i will have to give her extra love tonight.

=^..^=

the evil machine!

here's a picture of me shunning the camera but looking beautiful.



daddy has been running the evil machine for the last few days, vacuuming up all the fur that we've been trying to spread on the floor! apparently, grandma and grandpa are coming and mommy and daddy want the house to look nice. do they realize how much work i put into getting the black fur arranged artfully on the carpet???

at least grandma will bring me toys and play with me. since mommy isn't allowed to have tuna because of the kitten in her belly, maybe she will give it all to me to entice me and my siblings to come out and be social!

=^..^=

mommy spoke too soon!

just a quick note to tell you that mommy spoke too soon! the kitten in her belly is rejecting food now and mommy spent part of the afternoon vomiting.

i guess i will need to give mommy extra snuggles tonight.

=^..^=

the big news

here is a picture of me sitting at attention:



mommy's big news is that she is going to have a human kitten next june!!!! she is six weeks along and both she and daddy are very excited. she says to tell everyone that she is feeling very good right now and isn't coughing up her food or anything. (i think the humans call that "morning sickness"?) she says that you can go read her p-blog if you want details on how things are going.

i am excited because mommy says it will be another human to love me and for me to love back! i just hope it is a quiet one.

=^..^=

i don't have a snooze button!

this is me with my feather toy!



of course, i'm not going to play with it in the picture!

i forgot that today was saturday so i woke mommy up three times before i got the clue and settled down to just snuggle with her. i think my snuggle was one of the few good things that happened today because she came home in a hissy mood from town. apparently, she was stuck waiting for trains, felt sick, and the grocery store is being remodeled so it was torn apart.

mommy also has other big news but she has told me that i need to keep it a secret until she knows more for sure. one hint: there will be one more creature in the house!

=^..^=

kittens at work!

this is me inspecting a paper bag:



one of mommy's co-workers has kittens that she's fostering because they were abandoned. her mother is taking them during the day to feed them because they are still on milk and she brought them to work at the end of the co-worker's shift. mommy was cuddling with these kittens and cheating on us!!! i heard her telling daddy all about it!!! i shunned her last night because i was quite upset at this!

we had a power outage wednesday morning from 2 a.m. to 6 a.m. and it was such a great time to be a black cat. there are places in the house that are not close to windows and i could be invisible there!!! mommy had to use a flashlight to get to the bathroom when she woke up at 4 a.m. and she had to use her obnoxious cell phone as an alarm clock! (she did NOT want to get up.) i hope there are more power outages so i can have more black cat fun!

it is now getting colder and both mommy and daddy have the space heaters on near where they sleep. (mommy has been sleeping out in the living room with us so she doesn't give her lung crud to daddy.) daddy tried to turn the furnace on but it made some stinky smoke. hopefully, we will be getting a new furnace soon so mommy and daddy can stay warm. the space heaters are working though and mommy got so warm from hers that she drifted off to sleep very quickly last night. maybe we'll have snow tomorrow morning.

=^..^=

getting mommy caught up

here i am helping mommy cook in the kitchen:



because mommy was in bed for 3 1/2 days, she got behind on a lot of things. the washing machine and dryer have been going non-stop and tonight, she's cooking non-stop! she was preparing chicken earlier and didn't share with any of us even though it's a bird and cats eat birds! mean mommy!

at work, she has been doing a lot of stuff and she said today that she is finally caught up with everything. i hope this means that she won't be gone so late the rest of the week. i miss my snuggles with her even if she does clean the scabs on my chin and put slime on my chin while we cuddle!

=^..^=

poor daisy and an update on mommy

here's a picture of me objecting to mommy taking my picture.



for those who are wondering, mommy is getting better. she stayed home with me yesterday and rested and i helped her sleep in this morning. she made it out of the house to try and meet daddy for lunch and do errands but she had to go out with a bandana over her hair because i guess my brothers and i kept her in bed too long for her to be able to shower first. oops!

when she came home, she told me that i should pray for daisy who is missing her sister pixie who went to the rainbow bridge a few weeks ago. she said that reading daisy's entry today broke her heart and made her cry while she was reading it at the library. so... send lots of purrs to daisy and her mommy and daddy.

onto more happy news... mommy and daddy are preparing for a dinner and auction at church tomorrow called "fellowship and fun". they are doing a table for the kids with the theme of camping. mommy got some fake snakes and bugs for decorations a couple weeks ago and when she was in great falls on tuesday, she got some trail mix and gummy worms. i am waiting for the trail mix and gummy worms to be put together so i can have the paper bag that they are in! mommy is hoping that she has the energy to handle tomorrow night as she is still not feeling 100% herself. maybe she will take a nap with me after church tomorrow!

=^..^=

extra care required

here's a picture from 4 years ago of me helping mommy with her crocheting.



some of you asked about my mommy's headaches. she is doing ok with them right now... but she has a bad chest infection which is making her cough up snotballs. (they are like hairballs but grosser.) she went to work with a fever and chills yesterday and when she came home, she collapsed on the couch and stayed there all last night except for a break to check her email.

this morning, she got up late and went to her vet. her vet told her that she had a rapid-moving bronchial infection and put her on some powerful antibiotics to fight it before it affects her asthma. when she has trouble with her asthma, she has to use her machine -- she calls it a "nebulizer". i have not seen her use it since last summer when we had bad smoke from forest fires nearby. when i was snuggling with her today, she was talking to her mommy and told her that they are catching this early before it hit her lungs which is why she doesn't have to use it.

after her trip to her vet, she came home, changed into a t-shirt and taebo pants, and crashed on the couch. my brother cullen appointed himself her nurse so he has been sleeping on or next to her and purring as hard as he can to loosen the junk in her chest. i gave cullen a break for awhile and snuggled with her as well. i hope she stays home from work again tomorrow so i can have extra cuddle time but i think she will go into work if she is feeling better.

carolina/mrsippi/mama: mommy sent her ears to my grandpa (daddy's daddy) for his graduation from the cats program at fuller seminary. he sent them back and if she does not dress up as hermione from harry potter, she might wear her cat ears again for halloween.

=^..^=

hrmph!

first, here's a silly picture of my mommy and me from last halloween:



mommy and daddy left me and my siblings this weekend and went up north to canada. they stayed at a nice hotel, ate yummy food, attended a cool church, and had fun without us. they did have our favorite babysitter come see us to play but i was so mad that i didn't go out to see her. oh well... i'll apologize the next time she comes over.

today, mommy had to go to great falls to the headache doctor. her headache doctor is apparently cooler than my panther doctor because mommy was not dreading her appointment. apparently, it went well because mommy came home in good spirits though not with a cold wet nose. she brought us a paper bag to play with. i like paper bags!

mommy didn't have to go to work today because of her trip to great falls so i got extra time with her this morning to cuddle before she had to get up and shower and get dressed. i don't think she was feeling all that well because she was in black (her black soccer pants and a dark gray shirt). at least she has good fashion sense!

=^..^=

hiding from the light

here's a picture of me trying to hide:


it fits the theme in our house right now. mommy has a bad migraine -- the kind i think that lasts DAYS instead of just going away. she came home from work yesterday and settled on the couch (where all of us hang out) with a quilt over her head. she slept most of the time from when she got home yesterday until about 2 p.m. today when she finally got up. she's transcribing my meows but i think she just wants to go back to sleep! if she's going back to sleep, i need to go help her sleep by staying with her.

huffle: those are nice claws you have. mine are comparable though that means that mommy is going to trim mine soon. (she'll trim my sister freya's first though -- freya has left marks on mommy's hands!!!)

=^..^=

home alone

this is me guarding mommy and daddy's celtic studies book collection:



my mommy is in great falls today. her aunt and uncle live there and she is going to see them after she runs errands. she's going to church down there and then going to run errands. she was going to find harry potter stuff for the kids' table at the church dinner and auction but now she has to find different stuff because some of the other people at the church don't like harry potter. she and daddy thought about a camp/outdoors themed table so she is going to find camp food, trail mix, and stuff like that.

daddy has to go teach people about Jesus at his three churches today. he is then going to the nursing home to teach people about Jesus there before he has to go to the court of honor for the boy scouts he works with. he will probably not be home until late.

last night, mommy did a photo shoot and got some new pictures for the blog. i was a good girl and cooperated... sort of. mommy did not get all the shots she wanted but the shots she did get (and kept) are good ones of me.

=^..^=

saturday adventures

here i am helping mommy sort her yarn box:


aren't i a good helper?

mommy has been working hard on her triathlon. she has biked the last few nights and has come home tired. this morning, i woke her up at 7:30 am and she told me that it was saturday and that i needed to be set on snooze. i came back at 11:00 and cuddled her until she finally got up around noon. i then set my sites on getting love from daddy who loved me up while mommy checked her email upstairs and tried to catechize my sister freya. mommy then left to do errands and i settled in the living room with daddy who was reading the newspapers.

mommy laughed when she saw huffle's comment about playing "thundering herd of elephants" at 3 a.m. apparently, my brothers used to play a game like that and she referred to them as a "thundering horde of cats". now, we just play 3-d tag at 3 a.m. and jump all over the dining room table and furniture.

i also should tell khyra that not all orange cats are bad. my brother cullen is a really nice cat and he's an orange tabby. he's afraid of dogs (well... he's afraid of everything) but he's an example of a good orange cat.

i'm off to help mommy get her steps in today!

=^..^=

mommy says "game on!"

the picture today is of me and my brother finian when he let me sleep with him on the throne in mommy's office:



mommy said "game on!" to her co-workers challenging her. even though her ankle was a bit swollen and hurting, she still walked yesterday. she came home feeling icky with something called a panic attack and i had to keep her company on the couch as she lay there with a quilt up over her head. she gets these occasionally and i know my job is to love her up and just be a good panther for her.

her ankle was better today and she even went and rode her bike for the first time in 14 years. (daddy went and got it put back together for her.) she only got to ride about 1.75 miles (3 km for huffle) but she is proud of herself. i think she will sleep well tonight.

=^..^=

music and possible visits from a friend

here's a picture of me helping mommy with a shawl she was making:



aren't i a helpful panther?

mommy was telling daddy that apparently, she's doing so well in the virtual triathlon that her competitors have declared war on her and are trying to beat her next week to win a free casual day. daddy is going to take mommy's bike in to have it fixed so she can get some extra miles riding her bike this week and keep people from beating her. i hope she can do it!

daddy had a funeral today but does not have a council meeting so he has a free night. as soon as i dictate this to mommy, i'm going to go down and help him watch tv. he usually tunes it to a sirius satellite radio channel that plays alternative music. i'm not a fan of it but my sister freya is. i like the stuff mommy listens to better.

huffle is planning a world tour of sorts. i hope she comes to see me in montana. we can stalk trains together and beat up my brother finian for all the times he has beat me up. i'm sure mommy wouldn't mind another black cat in the house. we've even got afghans for huffle to curl up under if she misses her mommy's doona.

=^..^=

mommy is virtually a triathlete!

here i am on the bed in "the treehouse". (our third floor is two bedrooms. one is mommy's study and the other is a spare room.) mommy's book is on the bed with me.



according to mommy who went and walked at lunchtime, it was very hot today. i wouldn't know because i was in the house with daddy and we were staying cool. there was lots to watch out the window -- i like this weather better than rain. there were lots of trains to stalk and birds to watch.

mommy's work is doing a "virtual" triathlon where people can track what they walk/bike/swim/run. mommy is doing the walking category and she has this red clicky thing on all the time that counts her steps. (jen (edda's mommy)'s note: it's called a pedometer.) i think on her virtual triathlon blog it says that she has walked 43 miles so far. that's a very long way!!! she and daddy have joked about attatching a pedometer to us cats to see how far we walk in a day. i think we'd make that day a nap day!!! mommy's goal is 250 miles. do you think she'll make it???

=^..^=

embarrassing story time!

this is edda's mommy, jen. these pictures were taken about two and a half years ago.

i was on the second floor when i noticed that the door to the guest room was open.



i went in and saw that there was a lump in the bed. what could it be???



possibly someone who wasn't supposed to be in there??? silly edda!




in my defense, i would like to say that it was nice and private there. freya has her own floor -- i need my own space!

i woke mommy up 30 minutes before her alarm went off and we had snuggle time. i know she would have liked to stay in bed after her alarm went off but she had to shower, eat breakfast, take her yucky pills (jen's note: they're fish oil capsules -- they're pretty yucky), and use the noisy machine to dry her hair. church is now at a farther away building so she was gone a long time today!!! i did get petting time when she came home though.

mommy has been busy on the computer doing her own blogging and downloading things to put on her ipod. it's name is "panimatushka" (jen: "pastor's wife" in ukranian -- all my electronics are named after some title for a pastor's wife) and it's light green. mommy listens to it on her drive to work, when she isn't having to talk to people at work, and on her way home. she likes shows from npr, cbc, and the bbc. she also listens to singers and bands like nickel creek, loreena mckennitt, maire brennan, selah, and simon & garfunkel.

right now, daddy is downstairs watching basketball with my brothers cullen and finian. mommy is going downstairs shortly to finish making dinner. i think i'll go help her.

(to mickey and huffle: i didn't get a special treat for guarding mommy except for extra playtime and cuddle time.)

=^..^=

rainy nights and drippy mornings

first, the picture:



this is me being an alarm cat for mommy. (huffle, this is another archived picture.)

shortly after mommy pressed the publish button last night, she started hearing lots of noise. a few minutes later, daddy got home and told us that we were getting thunder and lightning and needed to turn the computer off. so... mommy turned the computer off and we all went downstairs except for freya who decided that she wanted to remain upstairs in her lair for awhile longer. (she thinks mommy's study is hers and lets mommy use it occasionally.)

i slept with mommy last night to keep her safe and when she woke up this morning, i was on top of her. we had a nice wake-up snuggle before she got up to get breakfast. afterwards, she and daddy and i watched a show on the history channel about vlad the impaler who i guess is the basis for the character "dracula". he was a nasty person and some of the things he did grossed mommy out.

mommy left to go run errands a little later and reported that the rain had stopped and that it was just kind of drippy outside. while she was gone, i took my noon and early afternoon naps and watched the bunnies, birds, and trains out the window.

mommy is home now and will be cooking things downstairs as soon as daddy finishes making his pizza dough. i hope she's making something i can eat too -- i love helping mommy cook.

no word yet on bartholemew coming home. i'm hoping that mommy isn't right and he hasn't been eaten by coyotes.

=^..^=

the news from montana

this is me showing off the beautiful light shadows that the door on the 2nd floor makes. (huffle: this is an archived picture.)

mommy and daddy got a sad phone call last night from my grandma (daddy's mommy). bartholemew (who my mom refers to as "the great white" and "the daisy with fangs") hasn't been seen since tuesday morning and they think he might have been eaten by a coyote. please think good thoughts that he comes home and if your humans do it, have them pray for him to come home and for my grandparents and my aunt joanna because they are very sad.

in other news, mommy has been getting down on the floor and playing with me using the feather toy that my other grandma (my mommy's mommy) gave to me and my siblings last year when she and my grandpa came to visit. i love to chase the feather but unfortunately, so do my brothers. mommy has to make sure they are taking naps when she plays with me, otherwise they try to butt in. daddy also tries to play with me when he's working at home like he has been this week. i know that next week will be busy for him because he has a funeral on tuesday to conduct and lots of church things to do.

my mommy's parents are coming in a month and i am excited because my grandma appreciates my beauty. they usually bring us toys and i've given mommy my list of what i want grandma to bring me. grandma likes to get down on the floor and play with me. she also does yoga which i like to help with and only get to do with mommy when she is stretching out after kickboxing. i also get tuna when mommy's parents come because mommy is trying to get us cats out and visible. my siblings are very shy so i just come out and eat their portion of the tuna.

tomorrow is saturday which means that i get extended snuggle time with mommy. i know huffle got coffee time with her mommy this morning but that it was short and her mommy took her off the bed so she could re-make it. my mommy and daddy let us stay on the bed and they just make the bed over us and play "bump" with us while we're under the sheets!

to mama/mr.sippi/carolina: i had my mommy add your link to the side of the blog. i have never been to iowa but i used to live in minnesota which i think is close by. mr.sippi: my mommy thinks you have a cute name.

=^..^=

wordless wednesday

cat fights on an otherwise quiet day

first, a beautiful picture of me:



aren't my eyes beautiful?

daddy had a vet appointment today so i had the house to myself with my siblings. (mommy was at work.) when daddy got home, he wanted to relax and read the newspapers so i kept him company along with my brother cullen.

mommy gave me a cuddle when she got home. she was very tired and was joking about taking me to work with her because she needed a stressball. i would be a good stressball to pet. i would also be happy to sleep under her desk or behind her computer.

unfortunately, my sister freya did not want me up in the study with her and mommy and attacked me before chasing me out. mommy scolded her for it. freya can be territorial sometimes. she even tries to kick my brother finian out of the chair next to mommy's chair if he's in it. (it used to be his chair before mommy and daddy adopted us because he was mommy's office assistant. freya took it over a few years ago.)

huffle's mommy and daddy are going on a holiday to my part of the world and huffle is not happy about it. i'm not happy either because they might leave huffle with someone who doesn't know how to transcribe her mewing and this means no huffle posts for four weeks. what is this black cat to do?!?!?!?

i'm thankful that mommy and daddy always leave me with a babysitter that i like. they are going away for the weekend at the end of the month and my babysitter drew is going to come to play with me. mommy said that drew is excited to be able to come over and play with me and pet me and i'm excited to have drew time. it almost makes up for mommy and daddy leaving me.

=^..^=

napping on sunday

first, a picture from the edda archives:



this fits into our theme for today: napping!

i'm a cat so of course i am an expert on napping. i do like to play (and mommy will agree that i play quite ferciously) but i also like to sleep and i've put together a list of my favorite sleepy spots.

[+] the bed: no explanation needed here. it's even better if mommy and daddy forget to make it in the morning and i can get the sheets all furry. they have soft pima cotton flannel sheets so an unmade bed is a soft sleeping spot.

[+] the back of the couch: this works if my brother finian isn't there already. i like it because the place where the couch meets the wall has a little bit of space and forms a little trough for me to lie down in. if mommy or daddy are sitting or lying on the couch, it also creates a place for them to adore me.

[+] the recliner: this is where daddy likes to sit and he has some stuffed foxes by there. i like kneading on the foxes and curling up in the recliner afterwards. it's even better if cullen is there because he lets me take naps with him. daddy also won't move me if i'm there and will instead find another place to sit.

[+] a kitchen chair: this spot works well because i am relatively high in the air and can survey what is happening on the floor. it also hides me from humans who might be walking through the house. my sister freya likes to sleep here as well and mommy calls it the "panther/jaguar in a tree" spot.

[+] the floor: it's not my first choice but you can't beat the floor. it's a nice flat surface and frequently i can find a sunbeam to warm me up. best of all, i can sprawl out and if mommy sees me, she'll pick me up and love me and put me in a much more comfortable sleepy spot, especially if she wants to take a nap.

=^..^=

my good big brother

huffle is having some issues because her readers feel sorry for salvador even though salvador beats her up and is mean. i can understand huffle. my brother finian beats me up a lot because he's jealous. he was mommy's kitty before they adopted me and i kind of took over some of that territory.

my other brother cullen is wonderful though. here's an archived picture of the two of us:



he's letting me take a nap with him. he's the best cat to nap with because he doesn't mind me cuddling up to him. he also gives me baths if he's around. don't let the picture fool you -- he's a bigger cat than i am. mommy refers to him as her "hip-displacing tabby" because he torques her hips when he sleeps on her (which is almost every night).

=^..^=

lunacat sillies before the first full moon

first, the pre-requisite archival picture:



mommy has said that we're running low on pictures and she might have to start taking new ones soon. quick! huffle! send her some of you. maybe she won't know the difference!

nice try, princess but no dice! i can tell the two of you apart. love, mommy

oh well.

mommy crashed on the couch to watch tv early last night because she was very tired from her day. i decided that it would be a great time to have my evening crazies so i was doing laps around the living room and jumping off of furniture. i was almost off the couch when mommy reached a hand up and pounced me down just before i jumped. mommy! that wasn't nice! she then proceeded to razz me and play with me. i figured she was probably tired (as i was too at that point) so i settled down to keep her and daddy company. my sister freya was also being silly (except she's silly all the time -- ask mommy!) and she kept jumping up on the back of the chair where daddy was sitting. daddy was complimenting her on her leaping skills. whatever! i leapt onto more furniture than she did!

(mommy was wondering if there was a full moon last night. there wasn't. i was just feeling silly.)

this morning, i decided to be mommy's alarm cat. i stepped on her abdomen and touched my cold nose to hers. that woke her up. unfortunately, she always has to get up and go to the litterbox when i wake her up like that! (note from mommy: that's because your hind paws are on my bladder, sweetheart!) she came back and i snuggled her a little but not too long because she had gotten up and left me. she had to get up after about 15 minutes anyway to go take her shower.

i made up for all of this by following her around until she left for work and then after she got home today. i would purr when she picked me up and she was joking that i was being her black lab puppy. oh well... at least she forgave me.

=^..^=

nocturnal state and icky weather

as fall seems to be coming quickly here, i thought i would post a picture of one of my favorite activities:

From Blogger Pictures

this is me helping mommy carve pumpkins for halloween. mommy and daddy joke that i am their year-round halloween decoration and that they need to keep me in the window that night. i am a black cat! halloween is my special day!!! i will not stay in the window and be a decoration, especially when mini humans are walking around in costumes!

i was a panther of the night while mommy was trying to sleep last night. i got into a bag from wal-mart that had new socks for her in it; and when she sealed the bag and tied it shut, i continued to rustle it and claw it open, making her get out of bed and put the socks out of reach. i guess i will have to find other socks with which to play "sock gnomes" with my brothers. i also howled at mommy for 10 minutes last night when i managed to find a catnip mouse. she wasn't paying attention because my brother cullen was on top of her purring. when cullen needed to take a food break, mommy came over and told me what a good panther i am. *cat sigh* as it's cullen (who is nice to me unlike my brother finian who doesn't like me and picks fights with me), i'll allow mommy to be distracted from me.

we have had rain go through today and it seems like black clouds keep passing over. mommy and daddy love the rain. i don't like it. all the birds and bunnies go hide when it rains and i have nothing to watch except for the trains that i stalk out of mommy's study window. hmph. what is a black cat to do?!?!?!?!?!?

=^..^=

sauna time and strange people in the house

here is a picture from the vault:

From Blogger Pictures

i'm on the bed looking at mommy sideways.

after mommy put the flashy thing away, i came back up to have sauna time. this time, i slept on mommy's feet and made them all toasty warm. after she finished on the computer, she picked me up and carried me downstairs and we had snuggle time on the couch while she and daddy watched tv.

mommy didn't want to get up this morning and i had to give her a five minute wake-up snuggle to entice her to get up. she was gone until late today and before she got home, daddy let some strange men into the house. i've seen them before when they've come to fix the water and the furnace but i couldn't remember who they were exactly. thankfully, they stayed in the conference room and office where they met with daddy about church things. we cats aren't allowed in there and the strange humans don't usually come into the living quarters of the house.

when mommy came home, her fur was different -- shorter i think and it smelled weird. why do humans do things with their fur? (a note from edda's mommy jen: i cut an inch or so off my hair. edda noticed because it smells like the shampoo they use where i got it cut.)

mommy is really tired tonight so i am going to go downstairs to snuggle her and help her fall asleep.

=^..^=

another cold cold wet day

here is the daily archive picture:



it was taken when we were moving from minnesota to montana three years ago. i am on top of the mattress supervising mommy and daddy packing up the bedroom.

it is still raining here in montana. the power went out this morning so i had to stay with mommy to make sure she woke up on time. (i later found out that her alarm clock was turned off anyway.) my brother finian and i kept her company in bed while cullen and freya helped daddy make sure the water was ok and other things were going well. (we have a weird water system because we live out in the country and daddy had to play with it this morning so we could have water until the power came back on. i don't care about this but i guess it is important for mommy and daddy.) mommy got up just as the power came back on.

mommy's study has been the warmest place in the house because she has her space heater on. the warm air goes under her desk so i go under there to hang out because it creates a panther sauna. i stayed under there for awhile last night and i was under there this afternoon when mommy snapped my picture.



i was not amused and skulked off to go where she wouldn't use the flashy thing on me.

my sister freya wanted to find a cat cave to take a nap. unfortunately, she forgot that she needed to completely camouflage herself if she wanted to hide from mommy's flashy thing...



no wonder mommy refers to her as "not one of nature's best camouflage jobs"!

mommy and daddy don't have work today so i will have to have extra love time with both of them as i know they will be gone a lot this week!

=^..^=

cold cold wet day

the sun did not shine. it was too wet to play. so we sat and we sat all that cold cold wet day. i sat there with edda...

mommy! this is my blog! this is not the place where you recite the cat in the hat to freya and i!

sorry, sweetheart!

ok... here's a picture from the archives:




the blanket was made by daddy's mom for my mommy for christmas 8 years ago. the picture was taken in mommy's old office in minnesota.

it's a cold wet day here in montana. mommy slept part of the night upstairs wanting to listen to the rain fall and i woke her up at 6:45 after she had moved downstairs. she reminded me that this is sunday and she gets to sleep in a bit on sundays. i woke her up again at 7:15. she reminded me again that this is sunday and she gets to sleep in a bit on sundays and would i please put my cat alarm on snooze? when her nasty beeping alarm went off at 8:00, she picked me up and i snuggled her until she had to get up ten minutes later and get ready to go to church with daddy so he could teach people about Jesus.

daddy only had to go to one church today because the roads up north are all yucky with the rain so he came in after mommy had been home for awhile. i was upstairs in mommy's study where she had her heater on and i had brought her one of my catnip mouses. she petted me and told me that i was a good panther.



huffle complained about her mommy's "sleepy pants" so i thought i'd show you the ones my mommy is wearing today so us cats could compare.



here's a close-up of the pants:



i actually like mommy's pants -- they're soft and i can crawl into the legs of them and sleep when she's gone during the day. (a note from edda's mommy, jen: i'm not sure i like edda telling y'all that she can fit into the legs of my pj bottoms so i feel compelled to explain that edda is not a very large panther and these pants are a size too big and very stretchy.)

=^..^=

wake up mommy!

first, this was a blankie that mommy made in minnesota colors to raise money for tsunami victims. i'm nap-testing it for her:



she raised $100 which got donated to various charities helping out victims of the tsunami that happened at christmas 2004. i don't know what a tsunami is but i know it involves lots of water and that can't be good!

mommy was very tired from last night so i had to go wake her up multiple times this morning by jumping on her and putting my cold nose on hers. her back was covered by a shirt -- otherwise, i would have put my cold nose between her shoulder blades as that usually wakes her up. i also purred for her and mewed at her. she rewarded me by giving me my yucky medicine. how is that fair?!?!?!?

while mommy went to town to do errands and go for a walk, i watched football with daddy. the seahawks beat the raiders so both mommy and daddy are very happy. i am personally a carolina panthers fan so i'll be rooting for them if they ever play the seahawks.

=^..^=

three day weekend

first: this picture is of me checking out the purse mommy made herself 4 years ago:



let her know if you want instructions on how to make one yourself.

mommy has come home exhausted the last few days so she hasn't been on the computer much and i haven't been able to get on it to blog. last night, she fell asleep with me watching tv and was woken up by daddy so they could do their evening prayers. i am a good panther so i hung out with them while they prayed. both of them pet me while they pray so i love evening prayer.

both mommy and daddy (well... mommy at least) have a three day weekend and she was telling daddy that she doesn't want to make any plans. i like this because maybe mommy will hang out on the couch with me and do the thing she does with a hook and yarn. (a note from edda's mommy jen: that "thing i do with a hook and yarn" is crocheting.) i like helping mommy with the yarn though i don't think she likes me helping her.

mommy is also participating in a "virtual triathlon" at work so she might be wrapping her injured hind paw in a stretchy thing and doing some walking with the thing on her waist that clicks and counts her footsteps. she has thought of taking me for a walk on my harness and cat leash but hasn't yet. i think it would be fun, especially to go chase the bunnies.

=^..^=

mommy is not amused

here's a picture of me staring at the afghan mommy was making for aunt joanna:




it was a good afghan and aunt joanna liked the afghan a lot.

this morning, my siblings and i found a mouse that had gotten in the parsonage and decided to play with it before we killed it. mommy woke up at 3 a.m. to some growling, mewing, and high-pitched squeaking. so... she started trying to trap the mouse with us chasing it and she tossed it outside when she caught it 45 minutes later. we were very cross because we were having fun chasing it and we were about to draw claws to see who got to kill and eat it. mommy was not happy because we woke her up. daddy thought it was very funny and was telling us jokingly not to play with our food. mommy just glared at him.

mommy got home early tonight and i got extra snuggles from her before we came up to blog. my chin is almost completely healed and she let me only swallow 0.75 mg of my nasty meds if i cooperated with her. i'm hoping she goes to bed early so i can get purring time with her tonight.

=^..^=

i'm a ninja! rowr!

the title has to do with the following picture:



this was january 2005 and we were living in minnesota. mommy had been outside playing in the snow and she had come in and stripped down to her long underwear. her thermals are black so she decided that she needed to take a picture with me because she was wearing black like me! she refers to this picture as "the ninjas".

when mommy doesn't have an injured hind paw like she does now, she likes to kickbox. when she kickboxes, i like to critique her form and try to catch her foot when she kicks. mommy finds this incredibly funny though she isn't quite as amused when i try to pounce on her hair when she's stretching out afterwards. when i do that, she usually grabs me and holds me while she's stretching. (she wears a sports bra and sweats so she has a bare tummy and she says i'm a good "bare skin kitty", whatever that means.)

it rained today so i didn't have much to watch out the windows. the trains kept sneaking up on the house but the bunnies and birds were not out. mommy was also gone for a long time today because she was making up hours at work. she gave me my medicine when she got home and i decided to not swallow some of it. she told me i was silly. how am i supposed to be defiant when mommy is laughing at me?!?!?!?

both mommy and daddy are going to be gone tomorrow but mommy will probably go to bed after she showers and blogs tonight so i'll get some snuggle time with her then.

oh... mommy says to tell huffle that her nose is not nice and wet. apparently, that's not a good thing for humans. mommy also hopes huffle is enjoying her sunbeam. i like sunbeams too -- mommy refers to my warm fur as me being "sun-kissed" and she jokes that i have a solar-powered tummy.

=^..^=

pesto and mommy's trip to the vet

here's a picture from the archives of me on top of mommy's bookcase again:




mommy got some pesto made last night so the downstairs smelled like basil and garlic. i thought it smelled like something i would want to eat but mommy said it would be bad for my tummy. darn!

mommy's last vet appointment was this morning and from what i heard her tell daddy on the phone, it went well. she had to have blood taken (she does this every 3 months) and i guess her results were good. they found nothing wrong with her and pronounced her to be in good coat. she was gone to work late tonight making up the time she missed while she was at the vet so i didn't get love time (and unfortunately my medication) until 8:00 tonight. i did get extra cuddle time this morning -- mommy and i were so comfortable that we let the alarm ring for almost 5 minutes before daddy came in and turned it off and helped mommy get out of bed. i wish it could have been longer but mommy had to shower and eat breakfast.

today, i helped daddy with the housework. i helped him fold clothes and i got the sheets all furry for him. unfortunately, mommy is allergic to the fur so we had to wash them. :( oh well... it doesn't take long to get them furry again and my siblings will help!

=^..^=

talking in her sleep

first, this is a picture of me being a silly girl on top of mommy's bookcases in minnesota.



mommy came home after going over to the building where daddy teaches people about Jesus (i think it's called a "church"?) and collapsed on the couch after changing back into her pajamas. i came and helped her go back to sleep, thinking it would be a short nap. it was 5 hours long and at one point, mommy started talking in her sleep! daddy was home and he came over and started talking gently to mommy to calm her down. she rolled over and went back to sleep.

mommy is wanting to sleep a lot today and she isn't happy about it. i don't understand this because i'm a cat and i think sleeping is part of my job but mommy says she has things to do and can't just sleep all day and then go to work tomorrow. she said she was going to make pesto today. i asked if i could help and she said that i was welcome to keep her company in the kitchen. i can do that!

tomorrow, she has to go to her normal vet and because her appointment is later than when she has to normally leave, she told me that i can have extra mommy time with her tomorrow morning. i'm so excited!

=^..^=