Walkies!

For Martin's Christmas 2010 present, we got him a harness and leash.  Now, I've never taken a cat outside on a leash before, but Martin is so persistent about escaping that we figured, "At least he'll be supervised this way and won't get hit by a car."

We didn't take him out too much .... because it was winter and cold.... but Martin quickly showed us that he didn't care about wearing a harness when he was outside exploring the Great Unknown!  We never make it very far into the Great Unknown; Martin's winter record was three doors away from ours.  Haha.  He moves very slowly when he stops to smell every bush and perk up at every noise around him.

    

(Lara loves those pictures because John is so tall and Martin is such a tiny cat.  She thinks it's hysterical.)

Anyway! Now that it is getting a bit warmer, I took him out again.  We very quickly beat our old record, making it FIVE doors down the road!  Whoa!  But then Martin got distracted again.... this time by a tree.  And I guess that a kitty will eventually do what all kitties love to do when they see a tree.  (Sigh)

    

Yes, I was terrified that the little goober would lose his balance, fall out of the tree, and choke himself on the leash.  I kept a very careful eye on him and how his harness was trying to wrap around the tree.  But I couldn't help but marvel at his determination and sense of adventure.  The owner of the tree who's yard we were in, of course, came home while we were exploring.  Thankfully, he was okay about us trespassing (not like some cranky pants would be) and just said, "I've never seen a cat on a leash before."  We shared a laugh as he went into his house.  I had to call it a day when Martin wanted to explore where our neighbor was going.  Silly boy, we are trespassers, not cat burglars!  Haha!

"OOH! What's over there?"

Best. Game. Ever!

Have you heard about what all the cool kids are playing?  It's only the best-est game ever.  It's RECEIPT UNDER THE DOOR!

I had a huge (HUGE!) grocery trip over the weekend and had the usual extra-long receipt ticket.  Somehow, it fell off the counter to the floor by the bathroom door.  Harvey already loves the What's Under the Door game and grew quite excited to see the second level, Receipt Under the Door.

He has gotten so into it that he has torn the original receipt into three pieces.  We have another in standby mode for when the first becomes totally decrepit.  Every morning with breakfast and in the evenings (during the "crazy time") we all pause to play a little Receipt Under the Door.  I hope to catch a vigorous session on video because Harvey Jones is so intent at getting the receipt that you will just laugh and laugh.

C is for...

 The Ref had to step in-- possibly for a "foul" play or Unnecessary Ruff-ruff-roughness.

C is for CUTE!!  Brace yourself for the adorable-overload!! Iiiiiiit'ssss PUPPY BOWL!!!  Animal Planet started a show to run on Super Bowl Sunday that would be just too cute to be ignored.  The premise is part silly, part humanitarian:  Animal shelter puppies playing in a football "arena" in order to raise awareness of adopting puppies from shelters.  It is a starting line-up of cute!  As Animal Planet describes:

About the Game ...
If your favorite team is on the bench instead of in the playoffs this year, it’s time to forget that post season slump. Some very special rookies are ready to take the field with a winning combination of tackles, fumbles and even a few tumbles, for their shot at the end zone —or a tug toy—in Animal Planet’s PUPPY BOWL VI. This annual canine battle is back as a new pack of pups mix it up on the grand gridiron of Animal Planet Stadium.

On Sunday, February 7 from 3-5PM e/p an all-star lineup of rambunctious, rescue pups competes in the ultimate showdown full of dogged defense, puppy penalties and fido first downs. Animal Planet has also booked a bevy of frolicking felines for an all-new edition of the Kitty Half-time Show. 

This year, they say there will be Bunny cheerleaders and a "rogue hamster" camera crew providing aerial shots from a blimp.  HAHAHAHA!!  What is better than the Puppy Bowl?  Mom and I stumbled across the Puppy Bowl a few years ago, and have been hooked ever since.  It's totally ridiculous and totally cute!  (and it repeats itself all afternoon in case you miss some of the action!)

If you want video clips from past years, go here; I can't embed anything due to copyright concerns.  Do a little browsing yourself and check out the cuteness if you can!  :)

Harvey's Snow Fun

Harvey was mildly interested in what we were doing out in the snow, and John kept saying that he was an outside cat for a long time, so he wouldn't mind the snow.  I claimed that he was too spoiled now to go outside, so we decided to test the theories.

Step 1- Try to lure him outside.  He had been left alone all weekend and was ready for lovings, but not enough to brave the snow.  I stood out on the back deck and called to him, but Harvey was having none of it.

Step 2 - Physical placement outside.

...3 seconds later..

Harvey says, "No way!"

This was as far as Harvey got outside.  Not even a full body-length out the door.

He then went immediately to the heater vent under the sink in the kitchen and looked disgruntled over being manhandled in such a cruel way.  Silly kitty. He is sooooo spoiled now.

Marshmellow Kitty Fun!

As part of the after-Thanksgiving loot, John and I got half a bag of marhsmellows (from the sweet potatoes, of course!) and he has been excited to eat them all because "they are just puffed air!"  and I cannot put a limit on them, as I do with most desserts.

So, the other day he was snacking on them, and Harvey was all, "Watchya got? Watchya got? Huh? Huh? Can I have some?"  John could not convince the kitty that he did not want any marshmellows, so he lined up his shot and dropped one down on Harvey's up-turned nose.  Rather than freak out and run away (as I was expecting him to do), Harvey said, "Fun toy!" and chased the 'shmellow around the kitchen... before losing it and coming back to John for more.

This continued for several marshmellows and I was just cracking up.  John kept boinking Harvey on his nose with the 'shmellow, and Harvey kept playing with them.  Soon, though, as with everything kitty-related, Harvey inexplicably lost interest and left the room.  :)

Harvey with his "kills"

(And did you all see how goooooooood John looks in a suit?  Yummy!  Hands off, though, he's mine!)

We haz a picture!

Yay!  We have a picture for our Christmas cards now!  I might have commandeered my mother to take a picture of us in front of our new house... then dragged everybody outside three times (allegedly) until I got exactly the facial expressions and angle on the house perfect.  Maybe.  But I am definitely excited.

Harvey is weird

Just what you always wanted: more pictures of my cat!  Hey, I am a self-admitted Crazy Cat Lady, get used to it.  :)

A few weeks ago, I bought a case of bottled Mt Dew and we've been savoring it (have you ever tried Diet Mt Dew?  It's pretty gross compared to the real thing, but we don't want to get any fatter and we drink a lot of soda, so the diet option is kinda what we have to do).

 

So as most foods go, we finished it, and moved the plastic to the side of the kitchen.  It had been there for several days before Harvey finally noticed it... and realized that it's a great kitty-sized cave!  He investigated it while we ate at the table nearby, then promptly lost interest.  Kitties are weird.

Then let's not ignore how Harvey's fluffy toes have no traction on the new wood floors.  I don't understand it: he's fine on the laminate wood floors, fine on the vinyl in the kitchen... but the real wood floors in the living room give him issues.  I keep laughing at him when the friskies hit and he slides everywhere chasing his strings, but then I feel bad for laughing at him.  He never seems to mind the lost traction, but keeps on going after the string.  I finally took video of him, though I did miss a few good barrel rolls.  (sound not necessary, just the "thumpa thumpa" of tiny kitty feet and his sniffling breath)

Happy Halloween!

Yay!  I think I am most excited about Halloween this year because we have our own house to decorate and from which to give out candy.  Am I weird for being excited about giving out candy?  And yes, I got the good stuff, all name brands: Snickers, Three Musketeers, Milky Ways, Twix, M&Ms, Starbursts, Skittles, Hershey Kisses, and Reese's Cups.  No Brach's or sugar-free at our house.  :)  I may have gone crazy, but we are giving out 2 pieces; I don't want to be the stingy house who says only take one.


Raaaaar John has taken over Anne's post while she is giving out candy to the kids.

ANYhoo, Harvey cowers in fear of the doorbell, and does not know what to make of Halloween with all these people coming to his door.  Several of the girls have even admired his "costume" (yes, he is still wearing his jacket for the itching).  We have gotten a few comments about how good our pumpkins are-- mostly from a large bunch of parents who came up to the door.  One mom asked if we did them ourselves, a dad was on the side looking jealous, and his other half's expression said, "You've got to be kidding me, don't even think about it for our house."  And there was another couple out in the road who were lingering and staring at the pumpkins, too.  See? I told you we were awesome.  :)

So the sociologist / nerd in me says that next year we are keeping a survey by the front door as the kids come by to track costume popularity and candy consumption.  :)  But for this year, we are going on my memory in order to determine costume winners.

COSTUME CATEGORIES:
Best Female:  Small-to-mid-sized duckie.  She wins mostly because her costume had "wings" that covered her hands like mittens and rendered her unable to pick up her candy.  John had to select her pieces for her.
Runner-up (though I'm not sure if we should be encouraging her): Slutty Robin.  Yes, pre-teen girl bought a sexy Robin (as in Batman and) costume, complete with cape, mask, mini-skirt and low-cut neckline.  : /

Best Male: TINY boy, maaaaybe in grade school, dressed up as a garden gnome!  He had the pointy red hat, white sideburns and beard, and suspenders over his flannel shirt.  Ahh! I can't stand it!  Too cute!

Best Group:  They came straggling up, so it was a surprise when they all arrived.  Four kids: Leia came first, then same-sized sibling Luke, then older sibling Darth Vader... wait for it... then Mom came pushing baby in stroller who was wearing Yoda ears!!  How awesome!
Runner ups:  Pair of brothers modeling the age-old competition of Pirates vs Ninjas.

Gonna go eat some candy now.  Just yoinked the last Skittles from the bowl for John to have.  I may have gone overboard on the candy, as the night is winding down and we have a good bit leftover.  Oh well!

Misc Randomness

Random artistic butterfly from my old college camera (it's amazing what you find when you are moving)


Harvey explores the new dressers as we clean the drawers


Harvey moving. I don't know why, but he eventually settled on the center console of my car when we were moving him and the last load of stuff to the townhouse (yes, his back end was sitting on the cupholders)


Bowling score: 139! Take that!
(mutter mutter, full disclosure, mutter, playing with little kids and using the bumpers, mutter)

Too funny!

At what point should you stop something when you know it is not right, but you don't really want to because it is too cute?

Wait, wait, wait! Before you condemn me for dressing up my cat, hear me out! Harvey has been scratching himself for weeeeeks now, and has not responded well (read: at all!) to the antibiotics and steroids from the vet. I finally got sick and tired of him licking his skin off, that I made a little jacket/ tube for him to protect his skin. Well, that lasted a few solid days before he unintentionally learned how to wriggle his way out of it. The scratching still continued, so I made a visit to Petsmart to get him something with a neck that would stay on.

The prototype

Now, the really bad part starts. Since no one is crazy enough to dress up their cat, the only pet-sized shirts were in the dog section (wait, it gets worse) And the only one in his size that didn't say "Daddy's Little Princess" said .... "Alpha Dog." So, yes, my cat is running around in a t-shirt that says "Alpha Dog." We are interpreting it to mean that Harvey beat up the alpha dog and stole his shirt because cats are so much better than dogs.

You can see how much he has scratched just his head in the left-hand picture. His back and ribs are worse than that :(

Strangely enough, Harvey doesn't seem to mind the shirt. Every once in a while he will try to jump out of it (Scene: kitchen floor, action: cat randomly leaps forward then walks away calmly as if nothing happened), but other than that, Harvey really hasn't protested. Back in the day when Mr Frank was first licking his fur off, the vet said that those anti-licking collars are pretty traumatic for pets, so we should try a little shirt first. So there is valid medical statements supporting the abject humiliation of my fluffy boy.

But isn't he adorable in his little shirt?!?!!?

Goodbye, Kitten

Polly Gizmo Babu Chiri left with Mom this morning. Just when she was consistently using the litter box .... and was learning how to play with John. (see below) She also enjoyed watching TV sometimes.

A Guide to the Kitten's Names:

Polly = becuase she likes to sit on a shoulder like a parrot

Gizmo = John's name for her because she looks like Gizmo and she can gremlin out; Mom refuses to call her this

Babu Chiri = the man to spend the most time at the summit of Everest (21 hours); she likes to sleep on your shoulder / chest

K is for ...

K is for kitten! So this post is an example of good timing in two ways. First, "K" ended just when we found the little kitty, and second, we found the little kitty the day after Mom had to put our family cat to sleep (failed kidneys; it was very sad). John and I will be holding on to her until after Mom does her summer vacation. But I get ahead of myself.

Her favorite spot to nap: my neck

So, John calls me the other day at work and asks "if I could hear the reason why he was calling"... there were little squeaks going on in the background, so I guessed kitten or puppy. John said that there was a TINY kitten up in the bushes at work and they had managed to lure it inside and were trying to get it to settle down in a box of padding. So, of course, I rush home to see the little darling and she is just too small! The little thing had to have been lost for a minimum of several days because her bones are waaaay too prominent for such a small baby. But (according to the vet appointment on Saturday) she is in otherwise good health (with some de-worming still in the process). She weighed all of 1.1 lbs!

She is a super-climber. Loves to be up on your shoulder, but not too sure what to do next.

She spent Thursday evening curled up on my neck sleeping... or wolfing down a whole can of food in a day. Then, Thursday night was spent crying. Friday was better; John was able to check on her at lunchtime and give her some more food (did I mention she has been eating non-stop?). Friday evening she was playing more with Harvey (they had a rough initial meeting; he kept hissing at her and getting smacked on the nose for it) and we introduced her to the puppies. Hehehee! What a little fearsome panther she is around the puppies! She bows up and hisses like a feral alleycat, and if the puppies still don't get the message, she's got a growl in her that defies her petite stature. So cute! I know, I totally ruin her vicious reputation when I coo over her as she hisses at the puppies, but it is just too cute!

Saturday we got an appointment with the vet and got her all checked out. So far, so healthy; but the vet warned about incubation periods and told us to be on the lookout for any budding diseases. This whole weekend, she has alternated between sleeping on my neck (I am not kidding!), eating, pooping, and is starting to learn how to play. She is attacking strings at the catnip mice ... and Harvey's tail, just like a good little kitty.

So, we are getting to have the joys of kitten poops and peeing on blankets, then when she grows out of that phase, we will give her to Mom. Mom is cat-less now, but wants to wait until after her trip to visit family so as not to say hello to the new cat, and then leave it for a week. Aren't we nice?

Harvey is getting along with her better since about Friday evening. I think he has little social skills since Grey Momma is always hissing at him; but tiny kitten would make quick, non-threatening passes by him, so he would sniff her but not have time to get angry. We totally did not follow the rules for introducing a new cat

I part two

Similar to Lara's "I" post (that is, using an adjective rather than a noun), for me I is for inquisitive. Every morning, we play Harvey's favorite game while I am in the bathroom: "What's under the door?" (I kid you not, EVERY morning) So the other day, I decided to take pictures to prove it to my unbelieving friends.

It starts with the little white paw while the door is shut.



Then, when I am out of the shower, and the door is open, it escalates into a two-paw, snuffling, digging frenzy as he tries to get under the door. (Disregard that the door is now open. The point of the game is not to get in the room, but to find out what's under the door)



Sometimes, he'll pause and see if going around the door will show him what's underneath it, but that rarely works and he must resort to digging again.

I love my little fluffer. :)