Mattingly & Harlie

A question

2010-04-10T23:54:00.005-05:00

Hi Kitty Friends! You haven't heard from me in a long time!

We are slowly getting back into blogging. I haven't been on the computer much... it's such a big house we live in now, especially compared to the NYC apartments we lived in before. Before we get back to sharing our stories, we are looking to get recommendations for some kitty furniture. Mom and Dad want to purchase us some window perches and some sort of tall climbing tree. What do you kitties have that you love and would like to recommend? We're happy to buy home-made stuff too... not just stuff from the big pet department stores.

I will post a new picture of me soon, but I thought in the meantime it would be nice to show how much the girl has changed since we last posted about her. Here she is trying to share a sticker with Harlie... but Harlie didn't have much use for it.

Stay tuned... there's more to come! And thanks for your suggestions!

Purrs,
Mattingly

Edited to Add: I didn't mean to imply that we don't want things from big department stores... just that we're open to lots of ideas... even DIY projects (well, you know, the beans will do it!).

Mom is realizing how many green papers the big fancy ones are and is changing her mind about what to get us... :o) Thanks for your help!

Good Luck Poornima!

2010-03-24T15:27:00.003-05:00

First, I want to say that we are alive and well and very sorry for not updating for so long. We have many good reasons and a bunch that aren't so good, but we'll get to all of that later.

First, let's remind you where we left off... we moved to Upstate New York last June from New York City. This used to be our window view.

Now this is our view...And even indoors there is so much space. That's what happens when you move into a HOUSE.

I wish I could say everything has been smooth since we've been here, but we certainly have plenty of stories to tell.

In the meantime, Mattingly and I want to wish our friend Poornima a lot of luck on her new life adventures. We've never met her personally (not even Mom has met her!), but she's a big fan of ours, so we wanted to send her hugs and purrs. We hope that she'll be able to check up on us in the future... we promise to update more Poornima!

For the rest of you in the blogosphere... we'll be around again to fill you in on our adventures!

The Four Letter M-Word

2009-06-17T16:40:00.002-05:00

Hello Blogosphere!

Thank you so much for all the birthday wishes. I was really touched. We didn't do much for my birthday this year, but I've been promised a big party next year for when I turn 5!

We've been very distracted lately as Harlie and I get ready to embark on a very big adventure... though we're not looking forward to it that much. We are moving! We moved once a little over two years ago, but this is a very big, very serious move. We are moving out of New York City, and we are moving into a HOUSE! Our very own house! Mom says there will be more windows than we can count, and there will also be stairs! We've never seen stairs before!

The move will take place this weekend. We are very worried because we will have to be in the car for about 5 hours, and neither Harlie or I have ever been in a car that long. The drive is really a little more than 4 hours, but since we will be traveling with the Girl, we will have to stop at least once. Our carriers are out and lined with fresh towels. We know that Mom and Dad will be with us and they won't ever let anything harm us, but we are still nervous. Fortunately, Harlie's cat bed will be coming with us, and so will my recliner (both shown below), so we know we will have someplace to sleep. Mom promises lots of updates when we get up there because there will be so much to show you all and tell you about. New smells, new sights, new sounds... and lots of snow in the winter (we are moving to Syracuse!).

Wish us luck! We'll post when we get there with directions and we'll have a big housewarming party! We are thinking of you all, even though we don't blog much.

Purrs,
Mattingly (and Harlie!)

Loving the Girl

2009-04-01T13:55:00.003-05:00

You can't hear me purring here, but perhaps you can see it.

My Birthday!

2009-03-27T07:44:00.005-05:00

Thank you everyone for the wonderful birthday wishes! Max it was so sweet of you to remember! But I suppose I shouldn't expect anything less from such a courtly, gentleman cat!

The day did not start out well. Mom saw that we were low on crunchies over the weekend so she went to the store. On Monday morning, my actual birthday, she went to fill our bowls only to find that he accidentally bought... DOG FOOD! What??? How could she make that mistake?? So we had wet food for breakfast, which for most cats would be great, but I don't really like wet food that much, and I had to meow all morning for my crunchies. Then Mom went to work and didn't even spend the day with me. And I should point out that I got locked out of Mom and Dad's bedroom for simply going in and announcing my birthday. I know it was 4 am, but I was excited, and I DID wait FOUR hours before going in to play.

So my day started out lonely, crunchy-less, and Mom-less. But then I got my cake from Max and all your well-wishes and that was wonderful. Then Mom felt so horrible about the lack of crunchies that she put a handful of Temptayshuns... in. my. bowl. So that was pretty good. Then she busted out the nip for Nip Fest for me. We got this scratcher for Christmas, so it's not new for my birthday, but the fun was new. And we ended the day cuddling on the couch. So all in all, turning 3 wasn't so bad. Here's some pics of the NipFest!

Thanks to everyone for your help in making it a good day after all!

Daddy's Furry Girl

2009-02-20T20:13:00.002-05:00

I've always been partial to Dad. It's true that when I was a baby and had to be kept separate from Mattingly, it was Mom who slept with me in the spare room every night so I wouldn't be alone. All other duties Mom and Dad split evenly when it comes to taking care of Mattingly and Me, but I am just Dad's cat. Maybe it's because he picked me. There were a few other kittens in my litter, but Dad chose me. I'll never forget that, and I guess that's why he's my go-to guy.

When Mom had our Girl in her belly, I was Mom's kitty for awhile. I loved snuggling with that belly, and Mom was pleased that for once I would choose her. They used to say I was trying to help her hatch a baby because I was always on her belly. But once Girl arrived, Mom's lap was always full and I had no problem going back to being Dad's cat, almost exclusively. The second he sits down anywhere in the house, I'm right there to be on him. Here are a few pictures of what I've been up to the past few months...

Watching TV with Dad:
Helping Dad play Guitar Hero:
And when I have to give up the lap to Girl (because really, she's ok), I find a way to still be snuggly:

Happy Valentines Day! (Belated)

2009-02-15T23:20:00.005-05:00

We've been away for far too long, and there is no good excuse really, so I won't offer one... except for the usual, it's Mom's fault, not ours that we haven't been blogging.

First and most importantly, Harlie and I have some very special wishes to send out. We missed Christmas/Chanukkah, New Year, and Chinese New Year, but we will not miss Valentine's Day! Ok... we did miss it, but we're going to fix it quick.

First, to my lovely Tipper, I give these roses, and hope she can forgive me for being silent for so long. Though we've been sneaking little visits to each other, it's been some time since I declared my feelings for her openly, so Tipper, these roses are for you:

Harlie sends this box of catnip treats to her special guy, Max. She would be here to write her own Valentine's wishes to him, but she is on a very important bug hunt in the kitchen. I told her I'm sure Max understands. We have a lot of new important duties with the blurpy girl around. Anyway, here is her gift to Max:

We actually have several stories to share... some good, some bad, some harrowing, but for now we will just pass along a few pictures and begin the story telling next time. I did mention that we have new duties now though, and one of them is talking with our girl. We can just call her Girl. Here we are having a chat on the bed last month:And here is Harlie trying to teach her how to roll over. Harlie is an excellent teacher and coach for these types of things.And here is a picture from yesterday. Mom and Dad are real proud of this one. Apparently this is a big deal. It seems blurps aren't born knowing how to sit up and they have to learn it.
So that's all we have for now. But we'll be back in a couple of days with more. Purrs and lots of love to all our kitty friends!

Very slow response!

2008-09-21T13:03:00.003-05:00

Hi Everyone!

Sorry to keep you waiting for so long. The stork brought our blurpy girl on Friday, Sept. 5th, but the stork didn't bring her to the house. Mom and Dad had to go get her. It was kind of rough because Mom was gone for days and we missed her so much. Fortunately, we had the grandmas here to keep us company while she was gone. Then one day Mom came home, but there was no blurpy girl! It turns out she's ok though. Something happened and she was very yellow and had to stay more time in the hospital (2 extra days). They let mom stay the first extra day, but not the second. Oh, and Mom says the yellow was caused by a very big bruise on the baby's head from a long and sort of difficult birth. But everyone is ok now and we've all been home together since the 9th.

The grandmas stayed for awhile after that and then they left and we've been trying to settle into a routine. Mom has been terrible about helping us blog, but we are forgiving her because it seems all she does is feed the blurpy girl (they had some trouble with that at first too, but it's worked out now), try to sleep, and try to sneak in loving with us when she can. There was one point where she didn't even shower for days! So we are forgiving her.

Harlie had a tough adjustment at first. I moved right into my role of big brother and like to check on the baby when she's sleeping (but I know not to get in the cradle with her!) and sit next to Mom on the arm of the couch when it's feeding time, but Harlie was upset at first and wouldn't go near the baby or Mom and just kept close to Dad and the Grandmas. But within a few days, everything was back to normal, and she's back to sleeping on Mom at night, which she hasn't been able to do since before Mom got huge, and she seems to like the smell of the baby now.

It will still probably be a few days before we can come around and visit other blogs, but we wanted to make sure to finally update. Sorry it took us so long, but if we can be patient with Mom, hopefully you can too! So without further ado... here are some pictures!

Abigail Elizabeth
Born September 5, 2008
8 pounds, 3oz, 20 inches long

Here's Harlie getting her first look. Moments later her tail was puffed up and she went under the bed. It's hard to tell here, but there is a kitty face embroidered on the baby's hat!

Here she is with our Dad. There are kitties and bunnies on her shirt.
Here she is strengthening her neck and back muscles!

Here she is wearing another kitty shirt!

Hopefully we'll be around more soon! Lots of purrs and love to all of you in the blogosphere!

Purrs,
Mattingly

Lots of Waiting

2008-09-02T09:37:00.005-05:00

Well, our blurpy baby girl is late. Mom and Dad have thought she was on her way here a few times, but they were false alarms. Mom is spending her days working on the computer and waiting and every day Mom and Dad go out and do something in the hopes they can make the thing come. There's also a lot of waiting involved for our outdoor kitty friend. Mom and Dad spotted her last week on their way home from the store one night, and Mom stayed outside with her, but she was scared off before Dad could make it back downstairs with some food and the carrier. Mom came upstairs with leaky eyes because she said the kitty didn't look as good as other times they had seen her. Nocat has eaten the food they've been putting out for several days now. For awhile, the food was being eaten by somecat. They couldn't be sure it was her, but at least there was hope as long as it was disappearing, but now it's been almost a week since the food was eaten. We won't give up hope though.

In the meantime, there is all this great baby stuff around the house that we would like to explore and sleep in, but we are not allowed. I made it into one of the beds once, but right after that, things got sticky, and nothing associated with this baby seems to be comfortable. (NOTE FROM MOM: We put contact paper upside down in the cradle, pack 'n play, and on the changing table. It is kind of mean, but very effective!)

So what are Harlie and I doing to keep busy with all the waiting? Well, I'm spending as much quality time with Dad as I can, since soon he will probably be pretty distracted:
Harlie is enjoying the new bed they got just for us, but that she took over almost exclusively:
I prefer to keep napping on Mom's slippers. I love these slippers.
Hopefully we'll have some good news to report soon!

Generous Gifts

2008-08-26T09:05:00.005-05:00

Last week, we all received a very lovely package from our dear friends The Crew. Mattingly and I knew it was coming because they emailed us ahead of time, but it was a complete surprise to Mom and Dad. They were very tickled. The box was full of stuff for our new baby bean girl who is due to arrive any day now. Mattingly was first to check out the bibs and clothes...
...while I looked at the books. At first I wasn't to thrilled about a book with a dog on the cover, but there was a kitty inside, so it was ok.
Then I wanted to check out the bibs and clothes for myself...
I asked Mom if she thought a bib might look nice on me since they were pink and girly and I'm a girl! Maybe Max would think I would look pretty, and I've never tried on fashions before like some of the kitties I admire, Daisy and Lilly Lu.It turns out wearing a bib wasn't all I thought it would be and I don't think I'll be wearing any fashions again.

Also in the box was a package of some nice smelling bath stuff for Mom to pamper herself with. It was wrapped in plastic, so of course I had to try to eat some of it. I love plastic.But by far, the best gift of all was the box that everything came in. It's always the best part.Thank you so much Crew! It was so furry sweet of you to think of our family and get our baby blurpy girl some gifts. Now we just have to get her here so she can wear them! Mom and Dad are getting pretty impatient at this point. We'll be sure to keep you posted!

Keeping a lookout

2008-08-18T12:20:00.002-05:00

We've been watching out for the outdoor kitty. Mom and Dad have been putting out food every night. It seems like she ate it the first few nights, but then we had some big rain storms, and she doesn't seem to have come back since. They were able to borrow another trap from Dad's co-worker though, so they are going to try that. We'll keep you posted on how that goes!

Remembering

2008-08-16T08:52:00.003-05:00

We have been thinking so much about Sprout and her family these past few days, and will continue to pray and purr for them today. We'll be back blogging about other things after tomorrow.

We're speechless...

2008-08-12T12:55:00.005-05:00

... and sending all our purrs and prayers.

Outdoor kitty friend

2008-08-12T08:32:00.002-05:00

**This post is written by Mom**

Hi everyone. Thanks for the well-wishes. No baby bean here yet... should be only 2 or 3 weeks now!

You may remember that I was trying to catch a stray/feral kitty over the winter. I posted about it here and here. Well, after those posts and the day I fed her on the sidewalk, I didn't see her again for months. For several weeks I kept putting out the trap I had borrowed, and I took lots of walks looking for her, and all winter I carried a can of food in my coat pocket, but I never saw her again. Eventually, the lady I borrowed the trap from needed it back, so I returned it and just prayed that my sweet little tuxie girl found a safe place to make it through the winter.

Then, about two months ago, my husband reported sighting her while he was walking to our building after a late shift. It was dark and she was farther down the block so he couldn't give me any details about how she looked, but he could tell it was her from her limp. I was so happy to hear that she was alive and survived the winter! I meant to blog about it then, but I forgot.

Two nights ago, my husband was coming home after a late shift again (it was about 1am) and he called me from outside our building to tell me she was hiding under a car. So I threw on some clothes and grabbed a can of food and ran downstairs. I was able to coax her out with the food and get her on the sidewalk. She looked ok, a little scruffy and dirty, but here eyes were clear. She wouldn't let us get too close, but I again had the impression that she is used to being fed by people. Her ears perked and her head turned as soon as I popped the top on the can. She knows that sound! She was moving quickly through the food so my husband ran upstairs and got one of our carriers just in case and another can. At one point we had her half in the carrier eating out of a can of food! I thought we were going to catch her! But I think we were too ambitious and we spooked her. She ran in the bushes and wouldn't come out again for us. We were both heartbroken, but at that point she had eaten 1.5 cans of food, so we just couldn't lure her back out. I left the remaining half a can for her and went in to bed (it was almost 2am at that point).

Yesterday I retrieved the can from the bushes and the rest of the food was gone so I hope she ate it. Last night I put out another can in the same spot... secluded in the bushes where she had gone to hide and feel safe. This morning the can was nearly empty! We don't have a trap and she's so spooked I'm not sure I want to go that route right now anyway. Our plan is to put food out every night and get her used to coming to the same place, and then maybe try to trap her in a few weeks. Though, of course we are going to be very busy in a few weeks. We won't give up on her though! It's so tough because there are so many dogs and people around all the time. I have no way of knowing if it's her that ate the food, but I can't sit outside every night at 1am, especially in my current condition! And I'm worried that we blew it by spooking her.

For those with experience, does this seem like a good plan? I want to catch her, but I don't have quite the same sense of urgency I had in the winter. It's apparent that she can survive and take care of herself. She's fast, even on her limpy leg. She obviously found a place to get through the cold nights and winter storms. She's not nearly as filled out as Mattingly or Harlie, but neither is she scrawny. And it does seem that she has some experience being fed by people, so I think someone somewhere has their eye on her. I want her off the street, so I'm going to keep trying, but I also know these things take time. I read many stories when I was trying to catch her the first time, and I know sometimes it can take months to build up relationships and get them trapped. So I'm going to try to be patient. Again though, I welcome any advice!

Thanks for making it through this extremely long post! Mattingly and Harlie have a new one coming up later this week... I promise!

Chubby Lee

2008-07-26T09:32:00.004-05:00

Hi everyone,

The reasons for our much less frequent posts will be given below, but first I need to talk about something upsetting. Harlie and I went to the vet on Thursday for physicals and shots. That is always a horrible experience, but this time it was even worse. It seems I have gained two pounds in the past year (Harlie gained one!). The vet said it was ok, but we definitely shouldn't gain any more than that. So since coming back from the vet, Mom has taken to calling me "Chubby Lee" and I don't think it's very nice. They don't call me Mattingly much anymore, but that's fine because they often call me Mr. Lee which I think is pretty respectful, so that's ok. But Chubby Lee is just mean. It's not that bad! See!?!?!?!?

And I'm sorry, it's particularly rude because it's not like Mom is so fit and thin these days.
Take a look in the mirror lady!:

That's right, in just a few weeks Harlie and I are getting a sister. Mom has been so stressed trying to finish her dissertation and get ready for fall teaching (since she will miss the first several weeks of the semester) that she hasn't been able to help us blog much. Plus for awhile there she kept sleeping all the time! Since she's been home for the summer, she's been hard at work, and has been sure to use her extra time to give us lots of love at attention, and to knit. She's been knitting like crazy, but she made us some cat toys too, so that's ok. This picture was taken a few weeks ago, so she's even bigger now!

At first we were hoping for a kitty sister, but Mom assures us she'll be human. Stay tuned! Things are about to get crazy around here!

Behind again!

2008-06-23T08:02:00.002-05:00

Since we've last blogged, we've missed both my birthday and Harlie's gotcha day. We've got a good excuse, which we'll post about soon. Unfortunately, Mom has lost the camera and can't upload the recent pictures. For now, Harlie wants to display the flowers that Max planted for her back on May 1st (which we just found out about today), and also, we thought we would just show some tummy shots to hold you over until our big update post. Purrs to you all!

Frustrated on Friday

2008-04-18T09:56:00.003-05:00

Hi kitties. I would like to share a story with you. I know that Mom and Dad love Mattingly and I very much, but sometimes I don't think we get all the respect we deserve. I'm going to give you an example below.

One morning I was sleeping peacefully on the bed:
This is a very comfortable sleeping position and I sleep like this a lot. But I should know better... because it is very easy to get disturbed in this situation. And sure enough, Dad saw me, and even though he was getting ready for work, went and got the camera.

The flash and the camera noise bothered me so I covered my eyes and asked him to leave me alone. But he couldn't help himself and had to rub my tummy. So I was awake and irritated, as you can see in the picture below.
Dad finally left me alone and went off to get ready for work and I went back to sleep, but before I knew it, he was back in the bedroom to put on his socks. And where did he sit? But almost right on top of me!!!I glared really hard into his back to see if he would get the hint and move, but he didn't right away.Eventually he did leave and go to work... but by that point I had given up on the bed and was off to the living room somewhere. Does this ever happen to you? The beans can have the bed at night, but during the day it belongs to the kitties. When will they learn? I wish I could say this was the first time it happened, but things like this happen all the time. I suppose it's a small price to pay for the food, and shelter, and toys, and all the love we get. But still... we are cats... we deserve respect!

Toesday

2008-04-14T11:38:00.002-05:00

Here are some leftover shots from the photoshoot I showed yesterday. They are appropriate for Toesday!

Photo Shoot

2008-04-14T11:31:00.003-05:00

So I'm certainly not on par with such accomplished cat models as Daisy and Skeezix, but I was inspired to do a bit of modeling of my own after our TV seemed to run old episodes of America's Next Top Model almost continuously this past weekend. For some reason, my Mom is hiding her head in shame. Anyway, since we are so relieved to hear the good news about Lilly Lu, Mu Shue and Iris, I thought I would step out of my comfort zone a bit and show you how I let loose on the bed and let mom do a photo shoot. Enjoy!

Does this still qualify for Mancat Monday? I'm not so sure.

Praying so hard

2008-04-12T21:19:00.002-05:00

We had a fun post to put up tonight, but we aren't in the mood anymore after hearing about the News with MuShue, Lilly Lu, Iris, and their Momma. We've decided to just spend our energy on extra purrs and prayers for them. We can't even imagine what their Momma is feeling tonight, but we hope she can sense all the love and support.

Not very lady-like

2008-04-09T19:33:00.002-05:00

Here I am trying to look more refined and lady-like in my photos and Mom went and took a picture of my behind!

That's not very polite at all. I'm appalled. Really.

A Little Goofy on Monday

2008-04-07T12:07:00.002-05:00

I've been working on trying to look regal and pretty in my photos, the way a real ladycat should... but sometimes I just can't help being goofy.

Sweet Dreamer

2008-03-31T14:45:00.002-05:00

It's a rainy day today, perfect for long naps and sweet, sweet dreams.

We miss everything...

2008-03-29T19:55:00.002-05:00

So FINALLY, Mom decides we should blog again. It's been weeks... almost two months, and so many things have happened. First off, Harlie and I need to apologize tremendously to our special kitties, Max and Tipper. They sent us valentines, but today is the first time we've checked our email in over two months!! So here are the very, very sweet valentines sent to us by two very, very sweet kitties...
We send our deepest, most heartfelt apologies for missing such a special day and not even noticing that we had valentines until almost April!

So what's been going on? Well for a few weeks Mom was spending all her free time in the daylight and evenings looking for that kitty she was writing about. She has not seen the kitty once since our last blog post. We had a few big snows, and Mom was out there frantic, but there's been no sign of her. Mom is sure to always carry a can of catfood in her jacket or her school bag just in case the pretty little tuxie girl pops up again. We borrowed a trap from a nice cat rescue lady, but after a month she needed it back. She said she will loan one to Mom pronto if she ever sees the kitty again. We are hoping that someone else found her and took her in and is loving her. We have to think that, otherwise Mom starts crying.

What else has happened? Oh, Harlie turned 2 last Sunday! Thank goodness Catster sent Mom an email to remind her. Harlie got extra kisses, but that's about it. Everyone was working that day too. We need to thank Smeagol and Strider for remembering Harlie's birthday and leaving a nice Birthday Wish for her in the comments. So many kitties have left us such nice comments in our last few posts. We need to get out there and comment back!

Other than that, Mom and Dad have been busier than ever. Mostly work... Mom is teaching only three classes this semester instead of four, but using all the rest of that time to work on her dissertation that is still not finished (after more than a year of "writing"). But she MUST finish it this semester she says. We aren't sure why, but she said she'll tell us soon. In the meantime, Harlie and I are just doing our best to look regal.

Purrs to you all!

Stray/Feral Update

2008-02-09T10:32:00.000-05:00

Hi All,

Thanks so much for your encouragement and suggestions. I haven't seen the kitty since I fed her on Thursday. I went out last night at the same time in the same spot with a bowl of food and a magazine. No sign of her after an hour. After that it was dark and cold so I walked around a bit and then just went inside (this would be so much easier if we just had our own property!). I've gone weeks without seeing her before, but then, I've never gone out specifically looking for her before this week. I've decided that I am just going to carry a can of food with me at all times so I can be prepared if I run into her unexpectedly again. And of course I'll keep going out in the evenings.

To answer the questions about what I will do if I catch her, the answer is first to take her to the vet of course. I want her to be thoroughly checked out. I am now convinced that the leg is an old injury, so not as urgent as I was concerned about on Sunday night when I feared there might be an open wound or something. But still I want her to have all her shots, get the leg looked at and make sure she is healthy. The we will get her spayed if she hasn't been already. We have a two bedroom apartment, so we can keep her shut away from Mattingly and Harlie while she gets and rest and recuperates from any procedures. If she seems like she can be socialized, we'll work with her on that and then find her a good home. The rescue group offered to help with that. If she is truly feral and not a stray, the local rescue group said they would help us get her into a sanctuary for injured ferals. Unfortunately, we won't be able to keep her long term assuming she is totally healthy. As it is, we have two cats in an apartment that doesn't allow pets (though the landlord isn't a huge stickler about this). We'll keep her with us as long as necessary to get her completely healthy and into a safe home though.

So my plan for today is to carry food with me when I go out for my walk and to the grocery, and also to see if I can track down the people who feed the cats in the neighborhood. She's going to be really hard to get into a routine of feeding with me since she already has another source of food somewhere else. If I can find the regular feeders, I'm hoping to be able to work with them on trying to get her. No matter what, I'll go out again tonight before dusk with food and my magazine (and a warmer jacket this time) and just keep hoping for the best. I have a feeling this is going to take some time!

Thanks again for all the help and encouragement!

Harlie and Mattingly's Mom

Advice about a stray/feral tuxedo girl

2008-02-07T20:57:00.001-05:00

Mattingly and Harlie's Mom here... this is probably going to be a long post, so bear with me.

Last April we all moved to a new apartment building. I was relieved at first not to see any ferals around, since there were so many in our last neighborhood (Mattingly was one as a kitten) that it used to break my heart all the time, even though I knew they were being fed by the local rescue group (that we got Harlie from). A few times over the past few months though I noticed a small, black and white cat that I assumed was a female based on her very small stature. When I saw her this past Sunday, I noticed that she was limping and decided I needed to catch her and have her looked at. It was the first time I had noticed the limp, but my husband said he thought she always limped. So I got in touch with some local rescue groups and found a lady who was willing to loan me a Havahart trap and show me how to use it and everything. I was able to get everything Tuesday evening, so I put the trap out then and again on Wednesday (I got permission from our building super to trap the cat on this property). I brought it in at midnight though because the lady who loaned me the trap warned that even though we live in a very populated area, she tends to catch things like raccoons real late at night, and since this trap does not have a back door, it would be very hard to get a raccoon out. So I put the trap out from 6pm to midnight and got nothing.

Late this afternoon, around 5:20pm, I was walking home from the grocery and there she was just grooming herself in the middle of the sidewalk. Since she was grooming her delicate parts I am now almost certain she is a "she", but then, that fur is black so it's hard to tell. Anyway, I had some cat food in my bag, so I popped the top off one and put it on the sidewalk. At first she hid under a car, but I backed far off the food and she came out to eat. I moved it to the grass so she would be out of the way of everything, but even though we were not on a main road, we were still on a pretty high-traffic sidewalk, especially at that time of day. I of course didn't have the trap or anything with me.

I was able to get a decent look at the back leg that she limps on and it's clearly an old injury... almost like she was in a fight or hit by a car. The whole leg is turned out a bit at the hip. She gets around on it, but I worry because she really needs her back legs to be strong to get away and defend herself on the streets. Otherwise, her eyes were clear, there were no visible mites in her ears, and her coat was pretty shiny and rather healthy looking. She ate about half a can of food before she got completely chased off by a young child (I won't go into my frustrations about that). One lady that stopped while she was eating did tell me that she knew about some people who fed strays/ferals a few blocks over, so I felt better knowing that there is some source of food out there... and I was also heartened that she ate only about four feet away from me, so she must have had some experience with human contact.

Anyway, now I don't know what to do. I've never tried to catch a stray/feral before, and the fact that we don't have our own property/lawn/garden makes it very difficult. Where I saw her today (about half a block away from where I was putting the trap) I don't think i can put the trap out. There are no bushes to hide it in, and it was in front of another building, so I don't have permission to trap there. Not only that, it's right by a dog walk where locals take their dogs in the evening to do their business. I don't dare leave the trap in plain sight since it's not mine and I don't know if it will be tampered with or stolen (though obviously I would replace it if something were to happen to it). And I obviously can't sit out with the trap on the sidewalk all night. I'm thinking about going out tomorrow at the same time with food and the trap, but I'm wondering if I should try something less intimidating like putting the food in one of our carriers and trying to close the door with her in it. I just don't know. I've never done anything like this before. I thought about trying to find the people who feed the strays and ferals in the area, but I wouldn't know how. Our block is all large apartment buildings, and the houses a few blocks over are all close together and have high fences, so I wouldn't even be able to see into yards to see where food and shelter is set up. I walk these neighborhoods quite a bit and never noticed anything. So I just don't know the best way to proceed. Prayers and any advice are tremendously appreciated. I'll keep you all posted.

Thanks,
Harlie and Mattingly's Mom

Not a Good ManCat Monday

2008-02-04T22:10:00.001-05:00

Here I am moping on the office chair. Why am I moping? Because I've just realized what a lousy mancat I am. I forgot my very first anniversary with my special girl Tipper. And I didn't just forget it. I REALLY forgot it. I'm over a month late! This is the post from last year when I let her know how I feel. I'm afraid that now that I've forgotten our anniversary, she'll think my feelings have changed. But I promise you Tipper... they haven't! I hope you can forgive me. Would you like to come over and play Cat Dancer with me? It's my most favorite toy ever, and lots of times I don't even let Harlie play. But I'll let you play any day. We've got extra treats and even a cushy new bed to sleep on. What do you say? Will you forgive me?

I hope she forgives me.

My Cave Habit

2008-01-10T14:41:00.001-05:00

It hasn't been very cold lately. But when it is cold, I love to make caves. Lately I sit in front of the (open) window and dream of cooler days. I'm much more active when it's cooler. Any other kitty like that?

Happy Holidays!

2007-12-25T10:12:00.000-05:00

Happy Holidays to all our kitty, bean, and other fluffy friends! We're taking it easy, playing, and enjoying time with our family. Hope you are doing the same! Hugs and purrs to you all!

Happy Belated Thanksgiving!

2007-11-25T23:01:00.000-05:00

Our posts are always belated around these parts it seems, but we figured a late Thanksgiving wish is better than no Thanksgiving wish! We had every intention of posting on Thanksgiving, but there were some visitors here. Both Grandmas were here, which is fine. They are usually pretty low-key, so they see lots of Harlie, and sometimes I even come out in the evening to say hi and allow them the opportunity to exclaim over my handsomeness. But this time, there was also another strange visitor. Not another baybee (thank goodness), but a D. O. G. That's right. Grandma A. brought Chloe with her. Apparently, Chloe is a smaller dog who likes cats (I wouldn't know personally, since we never came face to face), but Mom and Dad saw that we were stressed enough hiding out in the bedroom, that they opted out of face to face introductions this time. Wait... what? This time? There might be another???? Well, we'll deal with that when the time comes. Anyway, both Harlie and I managed to sneak out a few times as we had brief bouts of bravery and curiosity, but for the most part, remained sequestered in the big bedroom. Fortunately, Mom and Dad left their closet doors and a few dresser drawers open... favorite places of ours that we are not always allowed to sleep in! Plus Mom and Dad both came in to visit a lot and play with us.

So even though we weren't around to say it at the time, we wanted to let all of our friends in the Blogosphere know we were thinking of them and thankful for them and the community that we are a part of (even if at this time we are playing a very minor role in that community). We wish all of you the best in this holiday season, and hope you have lots of love and family around you! We'll keep blogging when we can!

Hugs and purrs,
Mattingly and Harlie

Mom Promised...

2007-10-28T16:04:00.001-05:00

... and for once she delivered! She said we could blog this weekend, and we are! Well, we are posting at least. Next weekend we will have a chance to go around and catch up on blogs and even leave comments for other kitties! We used to do that all the time, but Mom says sometimes life gets in the way.

Mattingly and I have been taking it pretty easy. We had a bit of a rough weekend because we had visitors. Mattingly doesn't like it when visitors come over. Normally, I don't mind, but this time, something WEIRD came with the visitors. Mom said it was a "baybee". I have no idea what that is, and I didn't stick around long to find out. The visitors are gone today, but they stayed one whole night! Mattingly and I hid the whole time in Mom and Dad's bedroom... we even had dinner in there. Mom said I should get used to having a Baybee around, because someday if we're lucky, there will be one that stays with us all the time in our home. If we're lucky? If we're lucky we'll get a weird-smelling, weird-sounding wiggly thing? I'm not sure about that.

Anyway, now it's just a nice, easy day, perfect for relaxing and maybe asking for a few treats in the kitchen. What? Another visitor is coming later? Maybe I like it better when Mom and Dad are gone most of the weekend. Sheesh. At least this one won't have a baybee. For now, hugs and purrs to all our kitty friends and beans and you'll hear more from us next weekend. And of course, special purrs to my sweetie Max and Mattingly's sweetie Tipper!

PS... Mom says I should be sure to say there is no baybee on the way right now (so family members shouldn't get the wrong idea from this post), but they are certainly hoping for one! Beans are so weird.

We're OK

2007-09-10T20:51:00.001-05:00

Wow, it's been awhile since we blogged. We are doing ok. Mom and Dad are super busy, so that's why we haven't been blogging. We haven't even been able to read other blogs!! Sometimes Mom will log on with us for a few minutes, but so often recently we've been met with sad news that it's been hard to really say anything. It seems like there's been lots of losses lately in the Cat Blogosphere. Even the kitties we didn't know so well have caused us to shed tears (especially Mom), so even when we've had the opportunity to log on, Mom has been hesitant (she's real emotional lately).

We just wanted to let you know that we are still here and thinking lots of good thoughts about all our friends. Since everyone has been so busy around here, Mom says it's ok to extend an open invitation to our kitty friends to come by and play anytime. You don't even have to let us know ahead of time! There's lots of food and toys and space for everyone, so please come over! Hopefully we'll be back to blogging more regularly soon, once everyone here gets settled into their Fall schedule. Purrs to you all!! (And maybe especially to Max and Tipper!!)

Lazy summer days

2007-08-10T08:57:00.000-05:00

As you can see, Harlie and I have been enjoying some lazy summer days. It's been very hot and humid, and is makes us want to lay around even more than normal. We even eat a little bit less in this weather. Mom and Dad have been extremely busy lately, so we haven't been able to keep up with too many blogs, but we wanted to let you know we are well. Also, even though we are behind the times a bit, we wanted to make sure we sent out our support to Monty Q.'s Babybean. Sounds like things are going better, but we're pretty sure you can't ever have too many warm fuzzy thoughts and prayers, so we're adding ours in!

What a day!

2007-07-30T22:58:00.001-05:00

Well just like a true gentlemancat, Max sent flowers ahead before he came on Friday! Are they just lovely?

He showed up with the rest of the Crew about mid-morning. Tipper and Mattingly of course greeted each other right away, and I greeted everyone else before Max. Now, we've met before, but this time I was all of a sudden very nervous! I gave him a tour of our home and showed him the best window spots. Since we were so nervous and couldn't really talk much yet, we played with the sparkle ball he brought, and then we went through my toybox (well, mine and Mattingly's), and we all six of us played with crinkle balls and the red dot. We used up lots of energy running around so much. I got to show Max how I like to slide on our slippery floors. Then Mom said we could have the snack of Fancy Feast that Max so thoughtfully brought, followed by a few Temptations for dessert. Everyone was pretty sleepy after that, so we all took naps. George and Misty each took a room in the condo, Tipper and Mattingly took the windowsills in the living room, and Max and I each took a cube. The cubes are connected by a hole though, so we were able to whisper to each other!

After the nap, we all partook in some of the nip Max brought and got all silly and giggly. Then Mattingly took Tipper, Misty, and George to see his Meow Closet (the closet he likes to go into then meow real loud because the acoustics are so good), and Max and I batted around my favorite crocheted toy and got to talk some more. He is so smart! He is also very funny and made me laugh a lot. And he was very sweet to me and said nice things about how pretty I am and how much he likes me.

Then it was time for them all to go. I just didn't know what to do, but Max gave me a little lick on my forehead and I almost melted! I was sad that he had to leave, but very excited because it all went so well and I like him so much!!! I've been in a dreamy state ever since, thinking of my special Tuxie Guy. I can't wait until we get together again, and next time he has a wrestling match, I'll be right there on the sidelines cheering him on! Purrs to you my handsome mancat!

Getting Ready!

2007-07-27T01:50:00.001-05:00

Harlie has been very busy with preparations for Max's first visit as an official gentleman caller later today. She's been checking out some boxes to play in, and making sure our cubes are nice and clean. The excitement here is palpable. We'll be sure to let everyone know how the visit went on Saturday!

Also, I want to thank everyone for their Gotcha Day wishes to me. We all forgot about it over here until the comments started coming in. That was really sweet of all of you and I appreciate it. Mom says she will give me a proper tribute next week when her head is on a little straighter. Whatever that means!

Real Busy

2007-07-24T17:06:00.001-05:00

Harlie and I can't blog much... we're busy looking forward to Friday when Max, Tipper, and the rest of The Crew come over!

Mattingly Thirteen

2007-07-19T06:00:00.000-05:00

Harlie has been doing a lot of the blogging lately, and now it is my turn. This is thirteen things about me in response to the tag I received ages ago to list 7 things about me. I'm just going to do a baker's dozen instead.

1. I am the first cat my Dad ever lived with.
2. I am really quite shy with new humans. I usually don't introduce myself until they have been to our home at least five or six times.
3. Probably only 10 people have ever pet me because of my shyness.
4. Before Harlie came along, I used to lick my Mom's face extensively at least a few times a week. I haven't given her more than a few licks once or twice on the face since Harlie has been here.
5. If Mom or Dad comes into the bedroom and I am sleeping on the bed, I am very happy when they come over to give me some love. However, if the other one enters the room, I will quickly get up and leave. I am easily overwhelmed, even by Mom and Dad.
6. There isn't anywhere you can't pet me. However, I love chin and neck pets the most.
7. You will rarely hear me purr. I do purr alot, but my purr is better felt rather than heard. When I am REALLY happy though, I purr loudly through my nose, almost like a snore or something. Otherwise, there is nothing to hear.
8. I do not like to have my nails trimmed. Mom has to hold me while Dad trims, but I don't try to get away. I sit patiently until I feel Mom starting to put me down, then I RUN!
9. I have a very distinct "meow" when I'm bored, and I use it every night. Right around 11 or 11:30pm when I am ready to play, and Harlie isn't, I run around saying "Mrow-ow-ow-ow-ow!" and the top of my lungs. Eventually, Harlie comes to play with me.
10. My favorite toys are feathers, foil crinkle balls, catnip-filled toys, and whatever I manage to knock off the desk or coffee table.
11. I keep a pretty tight schedule. I sleep in different places depending on the time of day, and those places and the order I visit them almost never change. I know exactly when dinner should be and always arrive 20 minutes early. I am energetic at the same times every night.
12. I am very careful when I play. I never use my teeth or my claws, even by accident. I have never scratched Harlie, though she has scratched me a few times when she gets over-excited.
13. I'm not a fan of my collar. I tolerate it most times, but when I can get it off, I chew the clasp until it is broken. I have tried to free Harlie from her collar by chewing the clasp while she is still wearing it, but it doesn't bother her to wear it, and I've only successfully gotten her collar off her once.

Fabulous, Fantastic Friday!!

2007-07-13T18:36:00.000-05:00

This is a very wonderful Friday.

First of all, it's our 100th post!!! It took a long time because we don't post that much, but today we finally reach 100!!

Mattingly was nominated as a Rockin' Boy Blogger by our new friend Tigger!

I was nominated as a Rockin' Girl Blogger by the lovely Lemieux!

AND

Princess Mia Bella featured me this week in her Female Feline Friday post!

Mattingly and I are so honored by all of this recognition! We don't know who all has been nominated for the Rockin' Blogger Awards, and we just think you all rock!

Harlie Thirteen

2007-07-12T09:37:00.000-05:00

Mattingly and I were both tagged to do the 7 things meme... but we are way behind. Some other kitties did it as a Thursday Thirteen, and we are going to do the same! I wanted to go first, so here are thirteen things about me, Harlie!

1. I am good with my paws. If I am curious about something, I try to pick it up in my paw and bring it to my eyes for closer inspection.

2. I can open doors. I know how to turn knobs (I've done it in our new apartment too), and I can get into just about any door I want.

3. I love garbage. I like to touch it and smell it and play with it. Our garbage is now hidden behind a cupboard door that I cannot open. But sometimes I try to get in it.

4. I am very curious, much more so than Mattingly. I like to inspect all new things and all new people that come into our home.

5. I love to play. If Mattingly is sleeping or off doing something else, I am happy to play by myself. If I can't find any of my toys or I am bored with them, I will scoop a piece of dry food out of my bowl and play with that.

6. My favorite toys are flat and round. My first favorite toy was a nursing bra that came home in our clean laundry from the laundromat once. I also have a small crocheted disk that Mom made. She was working on making it into a kitty ball, but I took it from her when it was only half done, so it never got to be a sphere shape.

7. If you throw my little crocheted disk in the air near me, I will jump up, catch it in my paws, and put it in my mouth. This is the only toy I will do that with.

8. When I decide I need some lovin', I need it right away. I will crawl all over whoever I can find and rub my face all over them until they pet me.

9. I prefer to sleep with Mom and Dad at night, but around 3am I require a lot of attention. I'm not allowed to sleep with them anymore.

10. I hate closed doors. If I can't open one for any reason, I will claw and scratch and push and try to get it open. I will also cry and cry and cry and cry... even at 3am after I have been put out of the bedroom. I will also cry outside the bathroom door if someone is inside, and sometimes even outside the closed door of an empty room... just 'cause I don't like to be left out of anything!

11. I am curious about Outside. I would like to go out our front door, but have never been allowed, except in the PTU to go to the VET. Maybe someday.

12. I am very clean and tidy. If you pet me while I am sleeping, I will wake up and clean everywhere you touched.

13. Sometimes when I fall asleep, I sleep very deeply. It can be quite hard to wake me up at these times, and if woken up, I am often wobbly and confused. It can take several minutes for me to get my feet under me and open my eyes all the way.

PS... I really like this picture of me because it doesn't make my eyes look quite so crazy as they normally do.

Unpacking

2007-07-10T19:53:00.000-05:00

This post is very, very overdue. I just wanted to post a bit more about our move. Here is the process of Mom and Dad unpacking some of our books and putting them on the shelves. You may notice here that I am not really taking an active role in assisting them. That's because Mattingly and I worked really hard to organize everything before we moved, and then Mom and Dad just threw everything on the floor. I was a bit frustrated and said, "Fine, do it all yourselves!" And they did. But as always, I was too curious not to watch! They really know how to make a mess, don't they?

Once again you will notice Mattingly's absence in the activities taking place in our new apartment. That is because we hadn't been living here for very long when Mom and Dad unpacked and shelved the books, and he wasn't very comfortable here yet. While he is curious about things, he likes to stay out of sight and have me report what's going on. He's my big brother, and I look up to him, and he takes care of me. But really, he's a bit of a wimp.

Saturday Friends

2007-07-07T19:46:00.000-05:00

Ok, I think I'm done being humiliated over yesterday's post. I don't like being a bouquet. Fortunately, it doesn't happen very often. It was very nice of Daisy to compliment my long stems though. I am becoming more of a ladycat, and I have the long legs to show for it.

Part of being a ladycat I think is to great new guests to our home and make them feel comfortable. This is J. She is one of my Mom's closest friends ever. They have known each other a very long time, and J even new Mom's very first cat! Anyway, a few weeks ago, J came to see our new apartment for the first time. This was also the first time I ever met her! Sometimes I can be a bit pushy with people and rub all over them too much and this is not very ladycat-like I've learned. So when J came to visit, I tried to be a little more considerate. She has not always been comfortable with cats, so I didn't want to come on too strong. I think I did well. I tried to give her some space, and even asked permission in my own way if I could come up on her lap. Mom said I am becoming much more respectful, and J was even comfortable enough to pose in a picture with me! I know it seems like I'm about to run away in this picture, but sometimes when someone is petting me and they approach my rump I just have to lift it way high up in the air!

You may be wondering about Mattingly and how he treated our nice guest. Well, he is so darn respectful of visitors that he comes off as rude and antisocial. That's right... he hid. The entire time. And for two hours afterward.

So that's my story about my new friend J!

Also, we have another friend to announce. She is a friend of J's. She likes our blog a lot. So...

HI POORNIMA!!!

We are glad to be your friend too, even though we haven't met you!!!

Friday Flowers

2007-07-05T20:45:00.000-05:00

Living in a city apartment, we don't have much to post for Friday Flowers. I'm excited to participate this week. This is a bouquet our Dad gave to Mom, just because. Pretty, isn't it?

Another Sad Day

2007-06-29T08:54:00.000-05:00

Today we also lose Kukka-Maria from the blogosphere. Thankfully, she is ok... alive, well, and very sexy. It's just time for her to move on I guess.

Kukka, we are going to miss you very much. You have always brought much laughter into our homes, especially on days like yesterday when the sadness was heavy in the blogosphere. I hope you won't be a complete stranger, maybe leave comments here and there or a brief post to let us know you and Brach are ok. And Brach, we are going to miss you too! And our Mom is going to miss it because you were pretty much her only source for what is going on behind the scenes in the entertainment world!

I quickly just want to say that this is my favorite post of yours. And also I have you to thank for learning about a new way to get ear skritches. My Mom tried that technique on me after ready about it on your blog, and it is heavenly (the one where she rubs the inside of my ear).

We all wish you well in your new super-sexy endeavors! Hope you know how much you've come to mean to all of us!

Purrs,
Mattingly

PS... don't worry Tipper! As much as I admire Kukka-Maria, you are still the only ladycat for me!!!

Blogging Hurts

2007-06-28T13:41:00.000-05:00

It hurts to lose a friend. We will miss you Buzz.

Tuckered-out Tuesday

2007-06-26T01:39:00.000-05:00

Helpful Harlie

2007-06-11T14:01:00.000-05:00

Since we moved to our new apartment, there has been lots for a curious and very helpful kitty to do. As you can see, my eyes are always very wide open to make sure I don't miss any opportunities to be of great help!

If you are going to be any help, it's important to know exactly what tools you have and where to find them. That way when Mom or Dad says "Where did that screwdriver go?" or "I need the hammer", you can respond quickly and efficiently.

Also, Mom and Dad lead very busy lives, so it's up to me to make regular inspections. We did not have this kind of magical machine in our last apartment. It requires a lot of inspections, though I have learned that it is better to go in for a closer look after it has cleaned the dishes. If you go in before and sit like I am in this picture, you are likely to get wet when Mom puts the rinsed dishes in. However, I forget that lesson on a regular basis and only remember after it's too late.

Dona Nobis Pacem

2007-06-06T05:22:00.000-05:00

Birthday Weekend

2007-06-04T23:54:00.000-05:00

We really took it easy for my birthday this weekend which was really nice. We had a lot of quality snuggle time with Mom and Dad, nice long naps, and tons of fun with our friends who came to visit! Mom still says we can organize a more rambunctious party in a few weeks... though things sure did get active around here when Daisy brought out her catnip bananer! Thanks everyone who came, and if you weren't able to come by this weekend, stay tuned for a bigger party in a few weeks!

I'm 2!!!

2007-06-01T18:29:00.001-05:00

Thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes! We haven't done too much in the way of celebrating because it's been pretty warm. Also, there's been some distractions. The other day Mom went to pick Dad up from work and it was almost 5 hours later when they got home. The delay had something to do with a "clutch" and "rush hour" and "Queensboro Bridge" and "two tow trucks" or something like that.

Anyway, we are going to celebrate this weekend in a rather quiet way. Mom and Dad don't have a car for a few days, so they can't go out to get any party supplies. Instead we are just going to enjoy our air conditioners when needed and play in our nice big apartment. We are inviting anyone over who would like to come this weekend. We've got tons of great napping spaces, great closets for hiding and pouncing, a bunch of toys, our kitty condo and cubes, and lots of floor to run around on. Also our windows have nice big ledges and we have trees outside with birds in them to watch. Everyone is welcome, and you don't even have to call ahead... just show up! We'll all be here! Hope you can come over!!

One Year Ago Today...

2007-05-25T04:45:00.000-05:00

...Harlie was still brand new in our home. In fact, she did not even have a name yet. We had just begun to spend more time together and were really building our relationship. Inspired by something that Max had done on his blog, Mom took a picture of us eating dinner one night. The first picture is the one she took last year, in our old apartment. She actually got a little choked up looking at how small Harlie was back then. The next picture shows us now. Harlie is really quite the lady cat now. Thanks Max and Buddah for this idea!

We have Toes on Tuesday

2007-05-22T13:36:00.000-05:00

Mattingly Toes:

Harlie Toes:

Once again...

2007-05-18T18:53:00.000-05:00

... we are swamped over here!!! Mom is frantically trying to finish her dissertation because now she has these potential jobs lined up and her defense has been moved up by 4 weeks!! Both Mom and Dad were very sick this week, but fortunately on separate days. Even so, Harlie and I split duty... I tended to Dad while Harlie tended to Mom. Mom had to administer and grade a final exam (while sick). Dad has been working like crazy. We STILL haven't posted about unpacking and the cool stuff about our new apartment. We have to post about the cool charms we got from ML, Missy, and KC. We need to plan a party because we all sort of forgot Harlie's gotcha day, and I'm sure we'll all sort of forget my birthday at the end of the month (no hard feelings though). Mom has a new feature she wants to set up one day a week on our blog. We have squillions of pictures to show and about 10 Thursday 13 ideas. I haven't talked about the Yankees at all. And we've been tagged a few times for the meme!! Forget having the time to comment on everyone else's blogs!!!

So to sum up... we are all ok, but very busy. We have lots of cool stuff in store for everyone. We hope to be blogging more often soon!

It worked!

2007-05-10T20:07:00.000-05:00

Thanks everykitty for your crossed paws and well-wishes!! It looks like Mom is going to get the job! They are going to make her an offer next week!! The job would start in September, and they have asked her to also teach a class this summer!! We are so excited that we completely forgot that yesterday was Harlie's gotcha day! Fortunately, Harlie forgives us all, because she forgot too! Mom says we can probably have a party next week to celebrate everything. I hope your calendars aren't already full! I'll post more tomorrow!

Good Thoughts Please!

2007-05-08T21:55:00.000-05:00

Well, we were logging on tonight to leave a quick post, and we let Mom check her email while we were waiting for everything to load. Long story short, we will have to save our original post for tomorrow, because Mom just found out right now (approximately 11pm EST) that she has a job interview tomorrow at 1pm! They said if she can't come in, they could do it by phone since it is such short notice, but she's going to go.

Since Mom will be graduating with her Ph.D. in August, she has been looking for postdoc and adjunct positions. The professor/scientist she has been trying to work out an adjunct position with just sent her an email asking her if she wanted to interview for a full-time assistant professor position. It's only temporary, she would be substituting for another professor, but she would get to teach two classes each semester! Mom is looking forward to really getting into the teaching part of her career, so she is very excited for this opportunity. Even if she doesn't get this position, it will be her first interview for this type of position, so she'll get some valuable experience either way. She's already nervous, so Harlie and I are standing at attention, waiting to see what she needs us to do. Probably she will need some snuggling tonight (that falls to Harlie and I since Dad is working an overnight tonight), but we know if you all think some positive thoughts for her, that will help her greatly too! Thanks everykitty!

Oh so Busy!

2007-05-04T22:05:00.001-05:00

Hi Everykitty!

We have been very busy here. Dad has been on vacation, so he and Mom have been doing lots of things around the new apartment. It's really starting to look and feel like home! We have great pictures of unpacking and new stuff, but Mom has to get it off the camera first. Isn't that always the way? Also, Mom and Dad took off for a few days and left us all ALONE! They went to go visit Grandma A. The good thing was that no one was here to quiet Mattingly and me down during our late night crazy times. Also it was good as they left out enough food and water for approximately 28 cats. One water bowl was so big, she might as well just have filled the bath tub!! But towards the end I was afraid they would never come back. Mattingly knew they would, so he helped me to feel better. I can't wait to post pictures of all our new hiding and napping places. In the meantime, here is a picture of me supporting the Yankees! I'm not named after a Yankee, but I'm still a big fan just like my big brother, and Jeter Harris too! My chest and leg furs look a little yellowish in this picture, but I assure you it's just the light. I am very bright and clean! I think we're going to try to have a party in a few weeks and invite everykitty and everyfluffy over, because next week is my GOTCHA day and at the end of the month, Mattingly turns TWO!!! So much exciting stuff!

One Day

2007-04-30T21:25:00.000-05:00

My First ManCat Monday!

2007-04-23T14:42:00.000-05:00

I'm very excited to be posting my first Mancat Monday post. I thought this picture was fitting. I'm not actually mean at all and I was just yawning when Mom took this picture. But I like how it makes my paws look big, as well as my whisker humps, and of course you can see that I have nice strong teeth. I could use any of these things to help save lovely lady cats (like Tipper!... oh and of course Harlie), and I think that makes me a man cat!

But as Derby and others have posted, it's important that mancats have a softer side too. This is really more like me... a sensitive, gentle guy. But my paw still looks big!

One time, when Mom cheated...

2007-04-21T13:24:00.000-05:00

Back in January, Mom had to go away for a few days to get the last of her disseratation research done. Fortunately, the University she had to go to was near to her Aunt's house, so she got to spend some good time catching up with and being spoiled by her Aunt and Uncle. She missed us while she was gone of course, and we assumed she would just spend days in misery until she could see us again. We were wrong. While she was there, she fell in love with her Aunt's rats! She said it helped to make it easier because she still came home to four-legged furry creatures everyday, and they were fun to play with too! We won't be getting any rats here anytime soon, but I wanted to post this for the Poi Rats who are concerned about their upcoming move. I don't know what this really has to do with the Poi-land rodentia moving across an ocean, but it made us think of the time Mom fell in love with rats. Enjoy!

Purring and Purring and Purring...

2007-04-19T21:04:00.000-05:00

That is what we are doing over here. While everyday there are so many great, happy, adorable posts in the catblogosphere, it seems like lately there have been more sad ones that usual. We are purring for DK and her family over the loss of Joaqin, for Missy, KC, and ML for the loss of Bear, for Millie, her Mom, Jasmine, and Mr. Karate for the loss of sweet sweet Gizzy, and for Grr, Midnight, and Cocoa for the loss of their friend Cashmere. Many kitties have been sick, so we've been sending lots of purrs to Lilly Lu and Rocky as well. Then there are all the cats and dogs becoming sick with tainted food that we are purring for. And of course there was the terrible tragedy earlier this week in Virginia. Many of you have mentioned that at times like these, you are glad to be a cat. I couldn't agree more. Not only are our lives less stressful, but we can provide comfort with our purrs, and use our purrs to strengthen the prayers of our humans. Even though we don't always make it around to comment or attend the prayer vigils, we want you all to know that you are in our thoughts and prayers always.

I'll continue the moving story in a few days.

Moving

2007-04-16T22:43:00.000-05:00

So you saw what hard work we did packing. Next comes moving day. We don't have any pictures of that because Mom packed the camera a few days before and didn't find it until after we were in the new apartment for several days. I will tell you though that Harlie and I did not help with the move.

Many of you kitties mentioned that we may get locked in the bathroom. Well, thanks to Harlie and her ability to lock the bathroom door from the inside, that was not a possibility. Plus, Mom and Dad were worried about how stressed I would be with all the noise and commotion. And finally, if one of us did sneak out or try to bolt out of fear, Mom would never forgive herself. So we went to stay with some of her friends. They were a nice couple and had a clean, quiet apartment. We basically hid the whole day, but they left us alone and didn't try to pet us or do anything to make us more uncomfortable. It was less stressful for us in the long run, and Mom felt better knowing that no matter what happened, we were safe. We don't feel so bad that we didn't help on moving day because even Dad didn't help. He had to work.

So in the absence of moving pictures, here is a picture of Harlie and I snuggling in the old apartment on my favorite blanket. It's so great to have a little sister.

Packing

2007-04-14T09:36:00.000-05:00

Well Mom finally loaded the pictures onto the computer! She even took new ones of us in our new home! But we'll get to those later. Here are some pictures of us at the old place, helping with the move...

First I had to energize with a little sun and bird watching:

While I was doing that, Harlie helped Mom take inventory of her yarn stash:
And then she helped her try to squish it down so all her yarn fit in one container:My first job was to start assessing boxes. I had to figure out how many we needed, if the sizes were adequate and then decide what should go in each one. Naturally they were all tested for quality as well. And we all know there's only one way to do that...

Harlie checked under the recliner for lost toys and other treasures. I stood next to the recliner to take anything she handed out, to give a high-five when she needed encouragement, and of course to wrestle the heck out of her paws. I mean, could you leave these paws alone?
Here I'm trying to move us along into the next room, but Harlie wants to make sure Dad doesn't forget is XBox 360. I'm pretty sure we were never in danger of that though.
One of the most difficult jobs was counting and organizing the books. It may have been easier if Harlie jumped in and helped instead of just meowing orders from the top of the desk. Final book count: approximately 1.3 squillion.
Packing is hard work so we needed to rest up often. Here Harlie is hoping her favorite nap spot on the back of the couch will somehow make it to the new home...I hoped my favorite blanket would come too!

Stay tuned in our next post for some shots of the new home!

We are Alive!

2007-04-07T18:35:00.000-05:00

Sorry we haven't posted in awhile. The move is over and we are getting settled into the new apartment. Only a few more boxes left to unpack. It's a bigger apartment than our old one, so it's taken a lot of time to do all the exploring. We were a few days without internet, but I think we have now caught up on the blogs we read. The camera has been found as well, so hopefully we can get some pictures up soon. I think so, because Mom has to go back to writing her dissertayshun now that the move is over, and it's times like those that we do more updating and picture uploading! So Hello to all our Friends out there... you'll be hearing from us soon!

Goodbye Little Loach

2007-03-22T15:34:00.000-05:00

The time has come for us to say goodbye to our Pakistani Loach (botia lohachata). Not to worry... he is still alive and healthy, but for over a year, he has been the only fish in our fishtank. Now that we are moving, Mom has decided not to go through the whole trouble of tearing down the fishtank and setting it back up just for one fish. When she had more time, she used to love keeping a nice fishtank... live plants, lots of fish, she even had a chemistry kit to test the water and everything. But now she just has too much else going on. Mom has found a really good home for him with a friend, and she is glad she knows he will be taken care of.

Mr. Loach was my first friend when I was a kitten. He also provided hours of entertainment. When I was small (like in the first photo here) Mom and Dad put a chair near the fishtank so I could look in more easily. Eventually I was able to get on top of the fishtank and make sure he was safe. Plus it was another neat way to look at him. Sometimes we would even nap together. Mr. Loach liked naps... and in fact would sleep on his side on the bottom of the tank. People who didn't know about him would often think he was sick or even dead! Only one time did I try to get in and visit him. But I slipped and got very wet and decided it was better to have a friendship between the glass.

Somewhere Mom has a picture of Mr. Loach from when the fishtank was pretty and fancy, but of course she can't find it now. This is a picture of another Pakistani Loach on the web. He's not too big (only about three inches long), and has neat whisker things in the front of his face. Our loach is somewhere between 6 and 7 years old. In the wild, he most likely wouldn't live this long, but in captivity he may live up to 11 years!! Let's hope he does.

I will now close with a few more pictures of Mr. Loach and I having some fun together. These are not recent pictures... they are from before I was full-grown. I was about 7 or 8 months old in the pictures below (much younger in the pictures above!). Aside from my size, you can tell these are older pictures because the fish food was on top of the fishtank. This was before I found out how yummy fish food is and then it had to be stored in the refrigerator. You can click any pictures to make them larger!

YIKES!

2007-03-20T21:07:00.000-05:00

Mom checked the catfood recall list the other day and was glad not to see the kind of food we eat on there. But then she saw the list again today, and OUR FAVORITE FOOD is on there!!!!! Mom is feeling really guilty because she doesn't know if it was there the other day and she just didn't see it... and we've been eating it this week. Fortunately, there have been no complaints for this specific food, and Mattingly and I are not exhibiting any abnormal or sickly behavior... but still she's worried. Now she just doesn't know what to feed us! I will eat pretty much anything, but Mattingly is a bit more picky with his wet food... and we have to be eating wetfood because as soon as Mom tried to decrease our amounts, we both started yakking up hairballs. She reinstated wet food and we've been fine. This should be interesting.

Other than that, strangers keep coming to look at the apartment we live in now, and Mom and Dad are a bit frantic because Dad only has one day off between now and move day. But really, that only affects the amout of time Mattingly spends under the bed while I investigate the strangers and report back to him. Even though our schedule is pretty much the same, I will be happy when everyone can feel more settled! Hope all of you are well out there in kitty blogland!!

Help Earl Grey!!

2007-03-17T19:42:00.000-05:00

We don't really know Earl Grey real well, but we have seen him on FOS and on his blog. I'm sure you can imagine that we are very fond of gray and white kitties around here, so we wish him all the very best!!! (Well, we would wish him the best even if he wasn't gray and white... but... you know what I mean!)

LOTS OF HEALING AND LOVING PPPPUUUUUUURRRRRRRRRSSSSS TO YOU EARL GREY AND FAMILY!

Ridiculousness.... and moving too

2007-03-16T14:17:00.000-05:00

Hi everykitty. Mattingly is not doing a good job of updating the blog regularly so I'm going to give it a shot for a bit. It's good timing because I need to get something off my chest so to speak.

Some of you have blogged in the past about nicknames given to you by the humans you live with. It's time to let you know about my nicknames. I'm hoping if I put this out there on the internet, and my parents see how ridiculous they sound, they may go back to calling me Harlie. I like my name. Unfortunately, Mattingly is the only one in this home who uses it! The first nicknames weren't so strange, though some of them may have been a bit rude. They called me Goofy, Silly, Crazy, Crazy Eyes, Krazy Eyes Kitty (adapted from a character on a Curb Your Enthusiasm episode), and sometimes Mom even called me Princess. Often I would also just be called Kitten. Also I have the nickname Chitten which is related to Mattingly's nickname of Chatten (another story there for another time). It's nice to have names that go together at least.

But recently, Mom came up with Harles Barkley (as in the basketball player). This made Dad laugh a lot. So then I became Harles Barkley. They tried to come up with other famous Charles', but only came up with Charles in Charge and Charlie Brown. So then Dad thought of Harlie Barkley Brown. This made Mom laugh a lot. Then they though it was hysterical say my "last name" first, and started calling me "Barkley, Harles"... and you have to pronounce the "," so they really say "Barkley Comma Harles". Finally, they are loving the Barkley, so I am often called just Barkley or even Barkles. THIS IS THE NOISE A DOG MAKES!!! They are using me for jokes... for their own amusement! The INDIGNITY of it all! I hope that by coming forward with my humiliating story, it will help to save not only me from further humiliation, but maybe even some of you who have to suffer with completely ridiculous nicknames.

Oh, and in other news we are moving in two weeks, so there will be a decreased incidence of blogging over here since there is a lot to do to prepare. I don't really know what that means, but that's what Mom told me. This is pretty much the only home I've ever known. Mom and Dad assure Mattingly and me that we will like the newer place better because it's much bigger. I guess we'll see. Mom says it's going to get weird around here first. I'll keep you posted!

A million blogs at least!!

2007-03-04T20:24:00.000-05:00

It's official... this Cat Blogosphere is GIGANTIC!!! In light of all the recent events I thought it would be a good idea to go around and let everyone know how much we appreciate and enjoy them with an individual note. Well this is a much bigger project than I anticipated! You can see here that I am all tired out, and I'm not even halfway through the list! Not only that, I also realized how many blogs I don't visit. I would love to get to know everyone, but that's a tall order! I thought I would get it all done this weekend, but this will have to stretch out into the week. So if you haven't heard from me, please don't take offense or worry... I will be by as soon as I can. I know you all know what it's like to have to work around human schedules and obligations. Hmmmm... if Daisy can take an Operations Course, maybe I can see about taking a Typing Course so I can just blog myself with no help. In the meantime though, I am at the mercy of Mom's schedule. We hope you all had a restful and peaceful weekend. We did. And now I need to do a little more resting. Hugs and purrs to you all!

P.S. Tipper... I swear that is just extra winter fluff on my belly... I'm not as rotund as this picture makes me look! Not that there's anything wrong with that... I just want you to know I try to take care of myself!

P.S.S. When this current project is done, Harlie and I have to get ourselves together to join Derby's Dreamcats, and also Harlie wants to be a Pink Lady! Oh and we want to adopt a Virtual Squillion too. And we still haven't joined Coats of Many Colors. There's so much to do around here!!

Something Fun

2007-03-02T19:35:00.000-05:00

Saw this on a few other blogs and snagged it. Wanted to post before we forgot!!

Mattingly --

[adjective]:

Fuzzy to the touch

'How will you be defined in the dictionary?' at QuizGalaxy.com

Harlie --

[adjective]:

Having the texture of congealed cheese

'How will you be defined in the dictionary?' at QuizGalaxy.com

Um... I like mine and it's true... but... um... Harlie kind of got the short end of this one. I promise you all that she is nothing like congealed cheese!! She is soft and silky! Hmm... maybe this one wasn't so fun for her after all.

Here Harlie... I made you this:

Hope that helps!

Is it over yet?

2007-03-02T15:19:00.000-05:00

Yikes! While things over at Mr. Litterbox got a bit out of hand, I hope nokitty will really stop blogging because of it. We all make mistakes and I think everyone understands that. There were a bunch of misunderstandings that have been clearing up the past two days, and soon we will have talked and blogged this thing out. Can we move on after that? I hope so. The blogs that are thinking of shutting down and are going on hiatus are some of our favorite blogs. I hope you won't deprive us of the laughs and good times, and even some of the tears they have helped us to cry. We have learned so much, not only about cat stuff, but also about the type of kitties and humans we would like to be... and all of that is meant in a GOOD way. Beau, Zeus, and Skeezix are three outstanding cat bloggers who have done so much good for the community as to far outweigh any negativity from this experience. And we love Triple S (Scooby, Shaggy and Scout) so much that we would be so so sad to see them go as well... even for a little while.

I hope as a community we can say a collective "I'm sorry" followed by a collective "I forgive you". I think no less of anyone after this ordeal. As I said, we all make mistakes... no one is immune from that, kitty or human. Lessons have been learned, and that is what is important. But to just run away from it all after this would be tragic. I think we can be a stronger community because of this, but only if we all stick around and continue to work together.

I am leaving the post below about Skeezix up, because the things I said about him are true. They are also true about many other kitties (except possibly the actually litterbox stuff), and I'm sorry that I singled one cat out and didn't recognize all of you. Beau and Zeus, as well as so many other kitties, have done so much to welcome other kitties into the blogosphere, acted as ambassadors and been extremely generous is so many ways. In the next few days, we are going to be going around and letting cat bloggers know why we appreciate them, because we think all of you are special.

I hope no kitty or their humans act too rashly in this situation. Emotions are high right now, but time will heal all.

Love and purrs and headbutts from Mattingly, Harlie, and their Mom

Campaign for Skeezix!!

2007-02-27T18:50:00.000-05:00

There are many excellent gentlemen cats participating in Zeus' Mr. Litterbox 2007 contest. Usually, we find it very difficult to vote in these types of things, and abstain. However, this is one contest where we think the winner is clear. While we are huge fans of Max, Beau, Dragonheart, and all the other fabulous contestants, we really think the crown should go to Skeezix. Instead of making a really long, wordy post, Harlie and I are just going to make a list of the reasons we think Skeezix is Mr. Litterbox 2007.

1. Skeezix is a mancat who knows his way around the litterbox. He has always been open and honest about his sometimes embarrassing literbox issues (e.g. sqwerts, poopy-toes, etc.) and that is the kind of honesty and openness we think is key for a Mr. Litterbox to have. Skeezix is a great example (or ixample) for other kitties who may have embarrassing waste issues... he shows that you can still be one cool cat!

2. Further on the subject of litterboxes... Skeezix has received messages in his!! While the true meaning of the messages has not yet been revealed, can any other contestant claim such a phenomenon?

3. There could be no more enthusiastic contestant than Skeezix. When the Miss Litterbox 2007 contest was announced, Skeezix expressed interest in participating right away. And since he couldn't, waited patiently for the Mr. Litterbox competition. He then blogged about it for pretty much a week while he prepared his entries.

4. Much like any other pageant, the winner should be charitable. While several of the other kitties entered have been extremely charitable, Skeezix has really gone above and beyond, especially in the last six months or so. He has given away many sponsorships to Best Friends, and has promoted and held several fundraisers for fellow kitty-bloggers in need.

5. Aside from just charity, Skeezix is giving in many other ways... putting together generous prize packages for winners of the several contests he's held, and even sending out presents to other cats on his own birthday! This kind of generosity is a key trait in a Mr. Litterbox winner.

6. Skeezix is extremely personable (catable?) and well-liked, another very important quality. Everyone knows about Skeezix. He has inspired many cats to begin blogs of their own, and also is often the first (or one of the first) to welcome new bloggers into the blogosphere. And let us not forget the help site he has set up to help all cat bloggers, new and old, make their blog all they would like it to be!

7. Skeezix further gives to the catblogging community by being an official repurrter for the Catblogosphere Blog.

8. Skeezix is an ambassador, working to bring together the catblogging community and the Catster community. Several Catster cats have started blogs, and several blogging cats now have profiles on Catster.

9. Skeezix is greatly concerned about public health, as is clear with his Vishus Deer Neighborhood Watch Group (on Catster). He provides the forum for cats to share information about this terrible threat... how to recognize threats, how to minimize threats, and how to deal with the threats. This is important for everyone!

10. And if you want to be superficial (such as the categories for Mr. Litterbox call for), Skeezix has it there too. He has KILLER style (no one can argue that), he cuts a great form (very thin, yet strong... his mussel definition is clear), and he is one extremely talented kitty. All of the above reasons outline some of his talents, and he is always discovering new ones... whether it be licking his eyebrows, driving the red masheen, narrating his stroles around the neighborhood, or wooing the lady cats, Skeez is super talented.

So the post ended up long and wordy, but that's often the way with Harlie and I. We hope you'll take the time to stop by the contest and

VOTE FOR SKEEZIX

We hope we haven't hurt any other contestants' feelings. It really is nothing personal!

My first hairball

2007-02-11T10:47:00.000-05:00

If it looks like I'm a little embarrassed and hiding, it's because I am. Many of you know I am trying very hard to become a nice gentle ladycat. I'm already having trouble with it due to my clumsiness, naughtiness, and lack of manners sometimes. But now it's even worse. This morning at about 5:30, I yakked up a hairball. It wasn't pretty. It wasn't dainty. It certainly wasn't ladylike.

Mom woke up when it happened, because she felt Mattingly (who was sleeping against her) jump up and move to the end of the bed. Then she heard the yakking sounds and bolted up because she thought he might be getting sick in the bed. But then she saw me on the floor at the foot of the bed being really gross. I was so embarrassed that both Mom and Mattingly saw. Mom said "Oh you poor thing. I was wondering when you would get one of these. You ok? Is it all up now?" But her nice words didn't ease my shame. When it was over I ran away and tried to hide in the kitchen.

Mom cleaned it up and said she was glad for once that the bedroom was messy because I threw up on some dirty clothes that needed to be cleaned anyway (she really didn't want to scrub the carpet at 5:30am). Then she praised me again for keeping it all on one shirt. Well, honestly, I wasn't trying for anything like that. I just didn't feel good and then there it was. I wouldn't let Mom pet me or anything, so she went back to bed. But then I went into bed with her later and purred for her so she wouldn't worry. And that made her happy. I'm just trying to keep a low profile for the rest of the day. Mom would like me to add, for all the lady beans out there, that Dad slept through everything. And she thinks that's typical. Whatever. I'm going back to my hidey spot.

Yay for Mom Robyn!

2007-02-09T21:19:00.000-05:00

Sorry our post is late. But we wanted to make sure we did our part to let Mom Robyn know how many kitties and people out here appreciate all that she does and care a lot about her!

We're here

2007-02-05T17:38:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone. Sorry we have been so quiet over here on our blog. Mom has been very, very stressed recently, and that makes her very tired, and that means we don't really get time to blog. Her trip to Virginia went well, but she's just been working so hard lately. That means Harlie and I have had to work extra hard to make her feel loved. But she appreciates all our work. We know it because she tells us so.

Finally today I got to take care of something that was stressing me. And that is my Valentine to my best girlcat, Tipper. I've been begging and begging Mom for help with it, and today we finally got it done. Now this isn't as fancy as lots of other valentines out there, but I worked really hard on it. I put some thought into it too. I know that Tipper's favorite color is purple, and I wanted to portray how I felt about her. I hope it worked. I entered it into Skeezix's Valentine's Day Kontest. I don't expect to win anything, but I like that it's a forum to let everyone know how special Tipper is. I'm also posting it below because I worked so hard on it and am proud of it.

Harlie is not old enough yet to have a valentine, but that's not bothering her at all. She has way to many other things on her mind. Maybe next year.

Hope you all are well. Please forgive my lack of comments!

Ho-hum

2007-01-23T17:46:00.000-05:00

The good news is that tomorrow is a day that BOTH Mom and Dad will be home. There will be a lot of snuggling going on in our home. Probably a good bit of red dot action too (we hope!).

The bad news is that we won't be able to blog for about a week. Mom has to make a quick trip to Virginia to do some work for her stupid dissertayshun. Ok, first of all... while Mom says it's a quick trip, I say "Quick trip my tail!!!". Mom will be gone for five days. While dad will be here... he has to work every single one of those days she is gone... so we are going to be missing out on a lot of love. If anykitty wants to come by and snuggle or play with us, you will be more than welcome. Our home is small and it's a bit untidy, but we have tons of toys and fun nappy spots.

And second of all... yes I did just call her dissertayshun stupid. I don't care that she's been working on it six years and has to push these last few months toward the end. Because of it we miss out on snuggling time, play time, and sometimes dinner is late!! Plus with her wonky schedule we just never know when she's going to be here. So I am a bit irritated with her. I am showing her this by not being very interested in my dry food lately, causing her to worry about me. Of course I am fine and healthy... just more about the stinky goodness right now than the crunchies. It doesn't take much at all for her to worry really.

So once again, you won't be hearing from us for a bit. Someday we will be every day bloggers. At least, we aspire to that. Also, since Mom hasn't taken the time to upload any pictures off the camera lately, I'll just leave you with kitten pictures to enjoy while we are gone. One of me, and one of Harlie. See you next week!

Finally

2007-01-20T17:03:00.000-05:00

Well it seems Mom is finally satisfied with the look of the blog. That took a few days! Thanks for your concern about her health... she's feeling fine now and has been back at work the past few days. Harlie and I have a tough time with the schedules Mom and Dad keep. While we pretty much always get fed in a timely manner, we just never know when Mom or Dad or both will be home with us. They are both working both days this weekend. But Harlie and I stay occupied...

Our condo is always fun:

And of course we make sure we are well groomed for whenever Mom and/or Dad decide they want to show up:

The only other news around here lately is that the RED DOT showed up at our house!!! I've heard other kitties talk about it... in fact Daisy Mae Maus mentioned the red dot at her house last week. But we had never seen it! We were thinking maybe it's something like Santa Paws and just makes its way around to different kitty homes. And now it's at ours!! It sort of comes and goes and is really unpredictable. But Harlie and I are entranced by it anyway. When it disappears, we wait and wait and wait and wait at the spot we last saw it. Sometimes it comes back there, sometimes it comes back on the other side of the room, and sometimes it just never comes back at all. I hope it comes back again today though. It's great to have some magic in our very own home!!

Pretty Changes

2007-01-18T17:05:00.000-05:00

Hi Everyone!!

Mattingly here. We haven't been able to update because Mom has been so busy. Today she is sick, hence the post and all the changes around here. Mom has been wanting to play with the new blogger a bit, and today she had the chance. There is still quite a way to go, so be patient. It may be a few days before all the changes are finished.

In other news, I went to the vet on Tuesday for a checkup and rooster shots. I was scared, but it was really ok. It was a quick visit, and the vet said I am "perfect". I'm not kidding! Mom was really proud of me!

Hope you are all well out there in kitty blogging land!!

Update on my furs

2007-01-11T21:10:00.000-05:00

Thanks everyone for your advice on my shedding furs. Mom picked up a brush the other day and I don't mind it. I just don't like my belly brushed. That's when I have to attack the brush. The problem is she could only afford a cheapo brush that doesn't really grab the furs so good... it gets them out, but then they fly all over instead of getting stuck in the brush. Eventually she will get a better one. She also started thinking it might have something to do with diet since recently Mattingly and I have been getting less stinky goodness. It's mostly for money reasons, and because Mom and Dad want to switch us to a more wholesome food that costs a more money that what we usually pay (well, than what they usually pay). Next week Mattingly has to go for his rooster shots, so she is going to talk to the vet about it then. Thanks so much for all your help though.

Mostly the week has been quiet... I did have a major accomplishment earlier in the week... I opened the bathroom door from the outside!! Mom was inside the bathroom. I was outside crying and crying because I hate it when a door is shut! Apparently Mom wasn't letting me in because she wants me to learn that just because I want something, doesn't mean I should just cry and be able to get it. Well! I figured out a long time ago that the knob is what opens doors. You may remember when I locked myself in the bathroom while trying to get out. This time I wanted to get in. Mom heard me jumping against the door and wiggling the handle, but she did her best to remain strong. But know what? I wiggled the knob enough!!! Mom heard the door click, looked over, and I pushed it in!!! Then we just stood there looking at each other... and I think Mom even dribbled toothpaste on her chin! I was furry furry proud of myself... and actually so were Mom and Dad.

I had a few other little adventures this week, but that was the biggest. Mattingly has been pretty boring, that's why I've been blogging. We'll both write more this weekend though!

Another Question from Harlie

2007-01-08T16:10:00.000-05:00

Hi Everykitty. It's Harlie here with another small problem. Again, it's a problem Mom and Dad haven't really experienced much with Mattingly. My problem is, I'm shedding LIKE CRAZY!!! Mom says I remind her of Pigpen (pictured above). Not because I'm dirty, but because there is a cloud of fur surrounding me at all times. I've got black furs mixed in with my white and vice versa... even the ones that have fallen out stick to me. And of course to everything else. Mom and Dad know it's natural to shed, and aren't surprised that I'm shedding since it got up to 70F here over the weekend. We do have one question though. Will brushing help this problem? Does it help remove the fur during brushing so less ends up on the couches and clothes and in Mom and Dad's noses? Everyone keeps sneezing because of my furs... even Mattingly!!!

Not to worry. I am still getting just as much love and attention, it just gets interrupted sometimes with bouts of sneezing. I am healthy and well-groomed. We are just wondering if regular brushing sessions might help. I've never been brushed, but I think I would like it alot. Thanks for any advice or hints you can offer!

~~Purrs from Harlie!

Oh What a Day!

2007-01-06T22:14:00.000-05:00

Hi Everykitty! I am so tired from my exciting day. I have napped a few times since coming home, but I'm still tired. Mom said we should blog anyway because kitties will be wanting to know what happened, and Speedy said he probably can't blog until tomorrow.

So this morning I was all aflutter. But Mom kept reassuring me, and we read the comments that some of you kitties left just reminding me to be myself and I felt a little better. After a good breakfast and quick last-minute snuggles, I was off to Derby's!

Kitties, if you haven't met Derby already, let me tell you he is one really great guy! It was nice to just hang out with him. I got there at about the same time as Speedy and Sadie. We got the introductions over with pretty quick and Derby gave us his fantastic advice. It really helped me to feel calmer, and I think it helped Speedy too. It was of course wonderful to have Sadie there too as she could present the girlcat point of view. I knew she had been coaching Speedy, and it was nice to get her advice as well. We played a bit with Derby, had a snack, and then we were off to meet the Crew!

I don't want to hog up all the story telling, so I'll let Tipper and Misty give a more detailed account if they would like. I will say that when I first got there, I was still nervous. Much less nervous since I had already talked with Sadie and Derby... but still nervous nonetheless. But I was very soon put at ease. The Crew is so great!!! Max and George were of course worried about their sisters, but they were still perfect gentlecats to us. George and Max are both so smart. George and I talked a bit about our art, our preferred mediums for creating the art, and ideas on future projects. Max showed me where he watches his bird friends and where he looks for mice. It was nice to be welcomed by them. Then of course, there were Misty and Tipper! Misty and Speedy hit it off right away, and did a lot of playing! And I see why Speedy is called speedy!

After all the group introductions and conversations with Max and George, Tipper and I spent some time together. We played with catnip toys and feather butt mousies and I shared some of my favorite treats with her. Then we went and sat on the couch a bit, looked out on the park, and talked a lot to get to know each other. It was really really nice. Then we all played a lot together and had a snack. That wore us out a bit, so we napped real cozy. Another play session, and then we heard from Harlie that it was time for me to come home. Wow, the day went by so fast!!! Tipper walked me to the door and I gave her a kiss right on the paw. I couldn't believe I did it! But then she touched her nose to mine and I knew that it was ok.

Since I've been home, I ate and napped like I said, and I've been thinking about Tipper. She is so smart and funny. She has great stories to tell and really puts a kitty at ease. And of course she has soft silky furs, and they do look so nice right next to mine!

I must thank Derby and Sadie for such great advice. I thank Speedy for suggesting that we go together. I thank George, Max and Misty for being so welcoming and sharing their home. And I thank Tipper for showing me such a great time and making me feel special. Tipper, I hope you'll agree to be my special friend after this.

Goodnight everykitty... I'm off to do some dreaming....

Getting ready for tomorrow

2007-01-05T22:52:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow is going to be such a big day. First I'm going to get to meet Derby and Speedy and Sadie at Derby's house. There we will relax a bit and get some advice from Derby on how to treat a lady properly since he is such a good sweetheart cat to Princess Mia Bella. Then we are heading over to meet George, Max, Misty, and of course, Tipper. I am extremely nervous. I spent today doing a lot of bathing and I asked Mom to trim my claws. I've even been wearing my collar all week. It's a new black one, and Mom says it makes me look very handsome. I still have to blog about my collar adventures, but since Tipper wears her collar and it looks so pretty on her, I want to show her that I am a mature cat and leave my collar on. Usually it's off very quickly and then I destroy it before Mom finds it... but those days are over... well for now anyway. But I digress.

Harlie is doing better. It seems she fought off the cold we thought she was getting. She did extra napping the past few days, and now she's back to her normal self with no more gooey eyes or runny nose and her usual boundless energy. But she won't be accompanying me because now Mom is quite sick and Harlie will stay back with her. I offered to stay home, but Mom insisted that I go. She told me that I should get lots of rest because tomorrow will be a very exciting day. She also said I could bring a few kitty treats with me when I go. Even though Tipper and Misty are being very thorough in their preparations, Mom says it's not polite to go emptyhanded. So Tipper, I'm bringing you some of my favorite treats. My Grandma bought them at a special store that makes homemade treats and they are very good. And of course we will share!

For now I'm going to rest well in the bottom floor of our two bedroom condo with a roofdeck. I hope I do well tomorrow and don't make a fool of myself. Wish me luck!

Oh My Goodness

2007-01-03T21:03:00.000-05:00

I can't believe I did it. I said it (well wrote it) out loud. I have a big crush on Tipper over at Crew's Views... and now she knows about it. That's why I'm hiding a bit. I'm so nervous. I really am such a shy kitty. I think she's interested in getting to know me better, and that makes me nervous too. She already invited me over, and said that Harlie could come too. I think that's great. Tipper and I have a lot in common. We are both sort of the care-takers of our kitty families. Tipper takes good care of her brothers and little sister, and I do my best to take care of Harlie. So I'm really happy that she said Harlie could come too. Though I'm not going to take her up on the offer just yet. I'm a little worried because I thought she might be interested in Eddy awhile back. I want to make sure she really likes me first, so I'm going to share a little bit about myself. Plus, since I do get so nervous when meeting someone new, I am very intimidated by Tipper's brothers Max and George. I like them both very much. George and I have had a few nice conversations about art even. But I know how protective a brother can be of their sister, so I just want to make sure everyone is ok with everything.

For one thing, I'm a little younger that Tipper, but not by much. I hope that's not a problem. I will be 2 in May, and Mom says I am a very mature cat, even for my young age. I am always polite, and take care to always be well-groomed (Dad calls me Chinchilla kitty because I am so so soft). I don't make a fuss when it is my time to get my nails clipped. I don't ever nip fingers or toes or beg for food (though I am always really happy when food does arrive!). When Harlie asks for some of my food, I always let her have it. I can be very affectionate, but not with everyone. I really have to know and trust someone before I can be affectionate with them. There a few people who can pet me, but really only Mom, Dad, and Harlie can snuggle with me. When I'm feeling safe and comfortable, I can be really really playful. I like to run and jump, I like feathers and crinkle balls, and I really like to play chase and hide and seek with Harlie. If there is a loud noise or a strange person or weird smell or anything a little bit out of the ordinary, I take cover immediately under the bed in Mom and Dad's room. I have tried to protect Harlie by bringing her there, but she always leaves again to investigate. I can be quite vocal during playtime, and I not only meow, but chirp and coo and make all sorts of noises.

Ok that's a bit about me. Here is a picture of Tipper. Isn't she beautiful? She has such gentle eyes and a lovely, delicate pink nose. She keeps herself well-groomed too... and don't you think our furs would look so great together? I think as a couple we could really match. I like that Tipper is so brave to share things that embarrass her (I might point out that I am EXCELLENT at grooming other kitties). I like that she is the girl-next-door type, and the quiz she took also said she is "beautiful but real". I think that's wonderful. Tipper doesn't think she is glamorous, but I think she looks like a wonderful gentle-ladycat. I mean look at that nose, and how smashing she looks in her collar! I could go on and on. She shares well with her siblings and even bathes them. She loves her red and white octopus, so I know she knows how to play and have fun. And she is even accepting of dogs. I have not yet met a dog, but I like her friendly nature and open mind.

So that's what I have to say about all of this. Tipper, if you are still interested after all of this, I would be happy to come over and court you... as long as it is ok with your parents and your brothers. I think I have to go spend some time under the bed now because Mom has been looking over my shoulder and teasing me.

PS... I don't get to blog and comment all the time. That's another thing I'm worried about. I don't want Tipper to think I'm not thinking of her... I just can only get on the computer a few times a week. I hope that's ok with you Tipper!

Happy New Year!

2007-01-01T12:40:00.000-05:00

We hope everyone is enjoying the new year and that all the beans had a safe night. Dad had to work last night, so Harlie and I just hung out with Mom. She watched a movie and then some TV shows and went to bed late. Nothing too exciting.

We had a good holiday season this year. We had a tree and some presents. Things went ok with the tree. There was lot of water spraying this year... even at me! Sometimes I can't help myself! Harlie managed to get in the tree a few times, and I tried to climb the outside of the tree. Mom has some pictures, but figures you all know what kitties do to trees! We did lay nicely underneath the tree a few times as well. No breakable ornaments went on the tree, and Mom is wondering if she'll ever be able to hang them again!
We had a great time doing Secret Paws. We also sent a package to a kitty at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary. Mom wanted to get a picture of what she sent but forgot. We sent some toys and a blanket that Mom made. And the best part? Mom says with the next paycheck we can sponsor that kitty as well! We'll have details on that when it happens.

Thank you everyone for your advice for Harlie a few posts ago. She's been getting more special play time, and I've even stepped up my own playtime with her to help out. Mom and Dad invested in a new garbage can to go under the sink cupboard so she can't knock it over anymore. That was really one of the biggest problems. Unfortunately, we are now getting shut out of the bedroom for most of the night. Apparently it's not advisable to play on Mom and Dad's bed while they are sleeping, or come requesting attention and 3am. Harlie still cries about that a lot... and
loudly... right outside the door. But it gets better everyday.

I think that's the general update. We are working on some other posts and hope to be posting much more than we have been. Here are some recent pictures of us. We'll be coming around to comment soon!

Oh and Mom has been meaning to make updates to the page for quite some time. Now she's considering switching to the New Blogger. Any comments on whether it is worth it or not?

Happy Holidays!

2006-12-25T11:27:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas to all my kitty and fluffy friends and their beans!

I'll be back blogging at the end of the week. Hope you all enjoy your holidays!!!

Thanks Bubbles!!!

2006-12-20T22:32:00.000-05:00

Wow! Our Secret Paws presents arrived! They actually arrived last Friday, but Mom was out of town and then took her sweet time uploading the pictures. Fortunately she took lots of pictures. When we got the box we saw that Bubbles was our secret paw! He did such a great job and we want to make sure we thank him lots! Here is how it all happened:

First Harlie jumped right in and took over as she tends to do. I had to wait my turn.

She really got right in there so she could pick out her favorite toys first.
She found her most favorite toy of all time... a fuzzy mousie with a feather butt! She pawed around in the box 'til she found it, then ran off with it!
That gave me a chance to look things over my own way... nice and slow and careful.
Oh my goodness! There was so much in there that even Harlie had to walk away from her fuzzy mousie to come back and look. Look at all of this loot!
Then Harlie grabbed this thing too and was rubbing around the floor with it and Mom had to take it right out of the package so she could run off with that too.
I mean look at all this stuff! We got cosmic catnip (oh so good!), TWO cans of Fancy Feast which Mom and Dad say we can have for Christmas dinner (we've never had Fancy Feast before and we can't wait!), TWO fuzzy mousies with feather butts, a yellow smiley ball, a foil crinkle ball (one of my favs), a great pink shiny ball with a bell inside... and a great fishie with catnip in it... oh and the squirrel that can be stuffed with nip!
Can you even believe it?? We think Bubbles was so so generous. And we want to thank him very much... and his lady as well (and of course Mrs. B and LT). This was so much! When we were done, Mom gathered everything in the middle of the floor again to see how long it would take us to play with everything... and we played with every single toy within 15 minutes! It was perfect!

Thanks everyone for your helpful suggestions about Harlie. I'll update on that again in a few days. Oh and Mom FINALLY got our Secret Paws present in the mail. The mail lady said it should be there by Saturday, but she couldn't guarantee it. I hope it gets there in time!

Advice for Harlie

2006-12-06T20:48:00.000-05:00

Hi everykitty. I first just want to say thanks for your concern and well wishes for my Dad. He is doing just fine... just a little uncomfortable and tired today.

Today I'm turning the blog over to Harlie. She has a few things she needs to say. From now on she'll write in red... because that's her favorite color.

Hi all kitties and beans and other fluffies. I wanted to write today because I'm having a bit of a problem and could use some advice. See, I've always been a mischievous kitty, and everyone in the house loves that about me. But lately I've been naughty... and I don't know how to stop! I've started biting fingers and toes again all the time. I try to eat things out of the sink. I keep getting into the garbage so much that now the garbage can is locked in the bathroom at all times. I know all the things I'm not supposed to do, but all of a sudden I can't help doing them! I'm sick of getting sprayed with water and told "No" and being removed from surfaces I don't belong on. It is a little hard to live up to Mattingly's reputation. Mattingly is very smart and learned all his lessons quickly. I was learning them too, but now I keep forgetting them! Can you offer any advice? I know Mom and Dad still love me, but I don't want to keep disappointing them.

Thanks a lot for any help you can give. ~Harlie

Early Tummy Tuesday

2006-12-04T13:29:00.000-05:00

I know it's a day early, but we wanted to participate in Tummy Tuesday this week. Mom didn't think we'd get a chance to post tomorrow though because Dad is having a bit of surgery. He has to get his kidney stone removed. So anyway, Mom came across this picture of me as a kitten and just needed to share it right away... so here's my Tummy for Tuesday!

The usual

2006-11-29T23:23:00.000-05:00

The usual around here is that Mom and Dad are extremely busy and Mom doesn't have time to help me blog. I have so many stories to tell and pictures to show, but I can't even get Mom to get the pictures off the camera. I will say though, that Harlie and I are EXTREMELY excited about Secret Paws. This will be our first time participating, and now that we know who we are getting a gift for, we are EVEN MORE excited. Ooooooh... I'm already scheming about what to get...

Thanksgiving Thirteen

2006-11-22T22:34:00.000-05:00

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYKITTY AND EVERYBEAN AND EVERYOTHERKINDOFFLUFFIE!!!

Thirteen Things I'm Thankful For This Thanksgiving

1. That Mom and Dad found me on the street when they did.
2. That they then decided to take in a sick kitten and then let me stay with them forever.
3. Harlie. I really needed a buddy. Mom and Dad saw that and got me the best sister possible.
4. That Mom and Dad understand my sometimes sensitive sensibilities and do what they can to make me feel better... even if it means feeding me dinner in another room when guests are over.
5. The silly names that Mom and Dad call Harlie and me... it irritates me sometimes, but I know it's because they really love us.
6. All our friends in the blogosphere!
7. Being told everyday that I am a very handsome gentlecat.
8. Our two bedroom kitty condo with a roofdeck that also serves as the best thing to scratch in the world.
9. Our kitty cubes. I'm not sure what we ever did without them.
10. FEATHERS!!!
11. Catnip mousies. And Catnip on the scratchy pad. And catnip.
12. The place on the couch where the cushions meet because I can squish in there pretty good and stay warm and cuddly.
13. My dark, warm, safe hidey place under the bed. Because sometimes you just need a place like that.

Links to other Thursday Thirteens!
1. Jake and Bathsheba
2. Jeter Harris
3. Skeezix
4. KT Cat

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Little Nip Fest

2006-11-09T19:46:00.000-05:00

There's not much happening here that's worth blogging about (well there is one thing but we have no pictures to share of it just yet), so I thought I would just do a picture-heavy post of Harlie and I enjoying some nip together. Enjoy.

Mom puts the nip on our scratchy pad to help control mess, but we still get it all over. Harlie has to have it on her "special pad". I'll have to post about that one.
Here we are sharing the scratcy pad to the best of our abilities:
But you know I wanted it all to myself. Oh can you feel how good I feel right here?
A little nip wrestling. You can see the nip on us.
The camera flash interrupted my sleep, but I only opened my eyes. I couldn't move any more than that. I was PASSED OUT!
Harlie always sleeps in these ridiculous positions... it has nothing to do with the nip.

My next post will be about collars. My thoughts... my experiences... my victory (though Mom assures me it's only temporary). We shall see.

Back to Normal and Cubes

2006-11-03T12:15:00.000-05:00

Fortunately Harlie is back to her own self. That first night after her surgery she was extremely hyperactive as I noted in the last post. But fortunately by the next day she was back to normal.

Also today I wanted to show you our cubes. Many kitties have them, and we LOVE ours. You'll notice our kitty condo in the background. I haven't written about that yet, but I will. We are just loving the cubes so much right now that I wanted to share those first. Here are some photos of us playing in the cubes (you can click to make bigger). Please note photos are not in sequential order.

Here we have already managed to turn the cubes on their side. Harlie is trying to extract me with the roof jump maneuver.

Here she is with a successful roof jump. She man only be 7 pounds, but she throws herself down pretty hard. I have a good advantage here though
because her tail is exposed!

Here Harlie is making use of the condo has higher ground. We are also enjoying the sounds our paws make when you rub them across the cube.

Here is a pause for rest. But the action picked up again very shortly after.

Anyone else out there enjoy their cubes? I personally think it's more fun with a buddy. But the cubes are also a fantastic napping place, and provide a nearby hidey place on short notice (when the bed is a little too far to make it in an instant). We LOVE our cubes!

She's Completely Crazy

2006-10-30T22:57:00.000-05:00

I submit these photos as evidence. The first is Harlie's picture from Petfinder. It's the first picture we have of her. Clearly you can see how she was just so cute and stole our hearts, but do you see the crazy eyes? She's crazy. We have picture after picture of her during kittenhood and even now (though she's still technically a kitten) exhibiting her crazy eyes. We've always known she's crazy, and love her for it, but today was just more proof of her craziness. The morning started out kind of rough. Mom saysHarlie yelled and yelled and yelled in the car all the way to the vet. Then when she was near the barking dogs in the waiting room, hid UNDER the towel in the carrier. This broke Mom's heart, but we all know it's for the best obviously. Harlie behaved typically during her exam (scared and hidey) and then Mom left her at the vet knowing she was in good hands (it is the same vet who did my very own hoo-ha-ectomy).

Mom and Dad both went to pick her up this afternoon. She was awake and alert, but silent the entire car ride home, so they knew she was still feeling the effects of the anesthesia. The vet said that we should be separated because they were worried I might act a bit trollish towards her (to use William's word) because of the vet smells. Then Mom mentioned how I bathe her a lot an the vet said we should be separated until the morning. Mom knew we would not like that one bit, but that it should be done for Harlie's good.

I was taking a great nap on the bed when everyone got home so I didn't even come to investigate Harlie at first. So Mom and Dad took her in the office where Mom set her up with a litter box and everything. Harlie got right out of her carrier, and even though she was still stumbling all over the place from the leftover medicine, she was trying to jump and explore and then get out of the room. I heard her start crying and woke from my nap to investigate, and in no time we were crying for each other on each side of the door. Mom explained to me why we had to be apart, but you know how you just want to see and smell things for yourself, right? Harlie was trying to climb the slatted doors of the office and Mom and Dad got worried she would hurt herself so they shut her in the bathroom with all of her stuff since that's the only real door in the whole apartment. While Mom was doing dishes Harlie was CRYING and CRYING... then she started throwing herself against the door, Mom could hear her scratching the floor trying to dig out, then she her her scratching the door with lots more thumping (and things falling in the bathroom). She was supposed to be groggy and sore the rest of the day!!! Instead she was flailing about like a madwomancat!!! So this got me all upset and I started talking to her through the door (in my coos and chirps), then meowing at Mom to let me in to see her. Finally Mom decided that it would be safer for her to just come out and they would watch us closely to make sure Harlie was safe. (Mom's note: When I was growing up, we never gave all this special treatment to our cats after being spayed or neutered. We just brought them home and let them loose. So I figured if Harlie was trying to hard to break the door down, it would be better just to let her out in the house). SOOOOOOO... Mom went to open the bathroom door and couldn't. Why? BECAUSE HARLIE LOCKED HERSELF IN THE BATHROOM!!! Why? BECAUSE SHE'S CRAZY! So then we had 20 minutes of Mom and Dad removing the door handle and all that... to no avail. Our apartment is pre-war (whatever that means... oh Mom says it's pretty old)... and the lock to the bathroom is a bolt operated from the inside only... no outside control. So Dad had to chip away at the outside of the door and door jamb until he could get a screwdriver in to push the bolt. (Now we have repairs to do before our lease is up). Harlie was eventually released, but then there was 20 minutes more dedicated to putting the door back together and cleanup.

ANYWAY.... Harlie proceeded to get up on counters and in the sink. She was running and playing and finally knocked the garbage can over twice trying to get food. So even though she wasn't supposed to eat for a few more hours, Mom had to feed her because it's no good for kitties to eat out of the garbage or to keep expending the energy to knock garbage cans over on the same day they have surgery! (And mommies get extremely frustrated when they can't get anything done because they have to keep chasing a kitten around the house to make sure she's not hurting herself or causing more trouble.)

In the 7+ hours Harlie has been home she has slept maybe 45 minutes. She had another meal (because Mom only feed her two spoons of food the first time to see how she would take it), and we've played quite a bit. Mom has realized she doesn't need to worry so much though. Harlie will not let me play rough at all... she keeps walking away when I want to wrestle. And then when I was bathing her earlier, she was loving every minute of it until I got near her belly and then she said "NO!" and walked away. So she knows what she has to do to protect herself and that's good. But she does not act sore... or stiff (I was groggy when I got home and moved "gingerly" Mom says for several days)... or tired or anything. Maybe it will catch up with her tomorrow... but today... she's just crazy.

Hopefully she can blog for herself tomorrow, but for now I will say thank you on her behalf for all your kind words and well wishes for her surgery today. (This just in... she is now sleeping in the cat carrier that smells like VET!!!).

Locked herself in the bathroom.... sheesh....

Wow!

2006-10-28T22:31:00.000-05:00

Thanks everykitty for all the comments! You really know how to welcome a fella back, and I wasn't even gone that long! Thanks so much to Skeezix for making a post about me! I've made a lot of new friends already! I have decided to go ahead and let Harlie do an introductory post. I'm not necessarily going to SHARE my blog equally with her, but I am going to let her post from time to time when she has something to say. Right now we are just so proud of the great cat that she is growing in to. Harlie will blog in pink because... well... she's a girl.

Hi Everykitty!! My big brother Mattingly is going to let me blog from time to time. I have some interest in it now that I'm able to sit calmly on laps and stuff. At first I was so excited about the computer desk that I just wanted to chew things and paw at things and run and jump and knock things off the desk that I just couldn't even pay attention to a blog! But Mom and Mattingly have been patient with me and have been showing me all about the great kitties out there that I want to blog sometimes too. They have showed me some other great black and white kitties like Josie, Millie, Mia, and so many others. And I want to grow into pretty lady cats like them!

I have to admit that I'm a little nervous because on Monday I have to go to the vet all by myself. Anytime before that I've been out of the house Mattingly was with me... and even though he was nervous himself, he was able to comfort me some. But now I have to go all by myself and stay all day at the VET without Mom or Dad or Mattingly or anyone else that I know. I know everyone loves me and won't let anything bad happen to me, but I'm still nervous a little to go by myself. Mattingly says I'll sleep through all the scary stuff and I'll be a little sore when I come home, but that Mom and Dad and he will treat me really gentle and loving. So wish me luck on Monday. Mattingly will let you know how it goes. And it's so nice to meet all of you! Oh and I'll leave you with an example of how nice Mattingly is to me. He really is a great big brother!!

I'm Back!

2006-10-27T10:20:00.000-05:00

Fortunately (and also unfortunately in some ways), Mom isn't going to be able to finish her dissertayshun by December. It's not her fault... other things happened. She is both frustrated and relieved. But now she can take the writing process a little slower and has agreed to start helping me blog again! I can't make this post too long, but I just wanted to let everyone know I'll be around more. I'm trying to decide if I should allow Harlie to post every once in awhile now that she is calming down a little bit (not much, but a little).

I'll leave you with some pictures. We are VERY happy that it is finally cooling off around here and we can be more snuggly!

LUNA IS HOME!!!

2006-09-24T18:14:00.000-05:00

We are crying tears of joy in our house tonight!!! Everyday we have been checking Luna's blog and holding our breath as we click the button to see if she is home or not! We are so happy for Luna and her Mom!!!

A sort of official break

2006-08-30T18:31:00.000-05:00

Hi Everykitty. There's been a lack of posts again on our end, and I think it's going to continue for a bit. My Mom is working on getting her dissertayshun (or something like that) finished by November for defense in December, and it's been very hard on her. Her time with us has been limited as it is so when she actually is at home, I would rather have her spend time giving attention to Harlie and me than helping me to blog. We may post occasionally, but it will probably be sometime in December before we can do any regular posting or commenting. I still have a backlog of stories to share and I'm sure more will develop in the coming months. Please don't take me off your link lists because I am not shutting down the blog, just taking a little break. Meezers we are so sorry for your loss. We hope Luna finds her way home. We are sad to hear the Lucas is gone as well. But so happy to hear all about the new rescue stories and wonderful beans making room in their homes for new kitties. Hugs and purrs and headbutts until next time!

Weird things!

2006-08-16T13:59:00.000-05:00

Yay I got tagged by two different kitties! My good friends Derby and Edsel asked me to participate in this game. Sorry it's taken me so long. I have to blame Mom as usual. And this time Harlie a little bit too since I always want to put pictures in my blog entries, but now Harlie has chewed through the special cord that helps put the pictures on the computer, so we have to wait for Mom to buy another... which means it could be years before we can upload pictures again. But anyway, I can at least post something even though it's all words.

I think pretty much everyone has played the game at this point so I won't bother with the rules and everything.

Here's 5 weird things about me, Mattingly:
1. I have a funny sounding meow apparently. And I make all sorts of different noises that mean different things like cooing and chirping.
2. I would prefer to eat Harlie's kitten food over my own grown up food any day.
3. I used to be a very cuddly kitty, but have decided to do it only on my terms now. I'm still loving, but much less than before.
4. I hide immediately when someone comes to the door, and sometimes even when I just hear the gate open outside. I usually stay hidden for the entire time someone else is in our apartment. If someone stays for a very long time, sometimes Mom and Dad will be kind enough to bring me my dinner under the bed so I don't have to go hungry.
5. Thanks to Kukka's suggestion, I know that I love having the inside of my ears rubbed. And also Mom has recently discovered that scratching at the base of my tail nearly sends me into fits of ecstasy.

I suppose I should put up a few about Harlie too:
1. Harlie would rather eat grownup food than kitten food.
2. There is one particular blanket that Harlie will knead and suckle anytime it's on the couch. She acts just like it's a Mommy kitty, starts going crazy with her paws, closes her eyes real tight, throws her ears back, purrs like the engines she's named for and just sucks and sucks until there's a wet spot on the blanket.
3. If she's laying on any type of surface, Harlie prefers to have at least one paw, preferably two hanging off.
4. When sleeping, no matter how tired she is, she moves around every two minutes or so. She never sleeps in one spot for very long. Just before this post Mom noticed that I on the other hand napped in the exact same position for over two hours. She's weird, right?
5. And Harlie loves to have her face touched constantly. One of her favorite things is when Dad puts his hand on her face and rubs backward so that her lips and eyelids are all stretched out. She'll ask him to do this over and over and over again.

Mom and Dad are super weird in general but I'll see if I can come up with a few specific things for them:
1. They insist that Harlie and I eat out of our own food bowls, and will stand over us while we eat constantly shuffling us around. Don't they have anthing better to do?
2. They call us any number of ridiculous names. I'm not quite yet ready to reveal those names, as so many other kitties did recently in a string of posts. But maybe I will soon. Anyway, all they are doing is embarassing themselves and Harlie and I in the process.
3. They are constantly calling each other into different rooms to look at where Harlie and I are standing/sitting/laying/playing/bathing... because apparently they think every single thing we do is adorable.
4. Mom goes positively nuts whenever any of our back feet (Harlie's and Mine, not Dad's) are curled up. The feet get pictures taken of them and sometimes even end up in her mouth somehow.
5. Invariably, if either Harlie or I expose our bellies, Mom or Dad's face will end up in there blowing and nuzzling. It's really irritating and rather disturbing. I keep my face out of their bellies, but they can't resist ours.

So that's our weird little family. We have the fish too, but he doesn't do too much that's weird. Except that he's supposed to be a bottom feeder but will ONLY eat flakes of the surface of the water. I don't want to say too many bad things about him though because he provides us endless hours of entertainment. Best not to hurt his feelings.

Hi to all my kitty friends out there. I'm going to try to make more updates!

It's my Gotcha Day!

2006-07-25T14:05:00.000-05:00

Hi Everyone. Thanks for all your concern about my Dad and our power issues and stuff. We've had power for several days now so we are very lucky. Some people in our area have been without power for over a week. So we really feel that we are very fortunate. And my Dad is doing great. He doesn't like having a kidney stone, but after we thought it was something so much worse, we are all very grateful that it's a stone and that it's only one.

Now on to ME!!! It's my Gotcha Day! This is a very very special day. At nearly midnight tonight it will be exactly one year since Mom and Dad found me. I don't remember much of my first experiences with Mom and Dad because I was small and sick and scared and they were just really big strangers. So I'm going to let Mom tell the story. I'm very thankful that they found me. Our whole family has a lot to be gratful for and thankful for this week. Ok here's Mom.

At about 11:30pm on July 25, 2005 my husband and I were returning from a late dinner. I was driving up and down the streets of our neighborhood looking for a parking spot, when down one street we found a gray little creature just sitting in the middle of the road. I slowed the car, but it didn't move. We could see that it was a kitten and figured it must be very frightened to not be able to move from the middle of the street. So my husband got out of the passenger seat to move the kitten from the middle of the road. I found a parking spot and went to meet him. He was walking towards me with a scrawny kitten dangling from his completely outstretched arm. (My husband was NOT a cat person... though I think the emphasis in that statement should be on WAS). Anyway I took the kitten in my arms and my husband said, "I think it's blind. It kept running into things trying to get away from me." Sure enough, the kitten's eyes were so infected they were completely crusted shut. I just looked at my husband and he said we could take it home for the night. My husband went out immediately to find cat food and kitty litter. That late we couldn't find any kitten food because only the corner stores were open, but we figured any food was better than none. We put the litter in a foil roasting pan, though we turned out not to need it. The kitten only licked the top of the food in the bowl and wouldn't eat any. I was so upset. I was up with him almost the whole night. He cried and cried and cried. I put a warm washcloth over his eyes and eventually he worked them open a bit, but his third eyelid was extended halfway across each of his eyes. He seemed to have no control over his bowels, so it got pretty messy.

The next morning I didn't go to work and went straight to a vet. The vet was fantastic. The kitten tested negative for all the important stuff and was diagnosed with just an upper respiratory infection, serious conjunctivitis and a bad case of worms. Fortunately he didn't have any fleas or mites. The vet said a few more days and he would have been completely blind, and for a stray kitten (somewhere between 8 and 10 weeks old), his outlook would have been grim. Since pets were not allowed in our apartment, our plan was to just get him healthy and find him a home. On the way home from the vet to show his appreciation, he messed in my lap. This kitten became my serious project. I got up in the middle of the night to comfort him when he cried and give him medicine, I kitten-proofed the entire house because while we were waiting for the worms to clear up he had accidents everywhere, and took him to work with me when my husband and I had to be away for long days. He refused to bathe himself, so I did my best trying to wash him everyday with a washcloth (the vet said not to submerge him because he was sick). Some stuff was just so stuck in there from his early weeks on the streets that I had to cut parts of his fur out. We knew he was getting better when I came home one day to find him cleaner than when I left him. We had to take him back to the vet after we had him less than a week because his sneezing and runny nose was worse and so had to get a different antibiotic. The good news was that he had gained a whole pound in six days! At that vet visit my husband decided that this was our cat and no one else could have him. I was so excited! We explained the situation to our landlord, and he allowed us to keep him. It took another week or so before we named him Mattingly. It was about two weeks before he was completely litter trained and I could remove the old sheets and curtains that blanketed every surface in our house to protect them and about a month before he was off all the antiobiotics, but now he's a big healthy boy.

He's been such a great addition to our lives. He has so much personality. He was the first step in making our marriage into a "family" (since it will still be some time yet before human kids come along). He is currently curled up into a tight little ball on the couch next to the computer with a smile on his face and we are all very content.

I wanted to share photos of his first few weeks with us, but our usual host is down and blogger is not allowing me to upload, so I'll try to do it soon!

What a Week!

2006-07-21T11:19:00.000-05:00

I wanted to blog more this past week and come around and leave comments on everykitty's site, but I haven't been able to. This post was supposed to be about my adventures at the Catolympics, but more important things need to be addressed.

On Sunday after I posted my Dad started to get sick. Then Monday he had to go to the doctor, then Tuesday he had to go to the 'Mergency Room. Usually this is not a big deal because he is a bean doctor (or bean vet as many of you know them) and actually works in the 'Mergency Room. But this time he had to go because he was so sick. When Mom and Dad came home on Tuesday, Dad was "loopy" as he says it because of all the medicayshun he was on. He was very uncomfortable and Mom was trying to take care of him and then we started to lose power. Throughout the day we had less and less and less. First the TV went, then some lights, then our AIR CONDITIONERS!! We need those!!! It was SO HOT! Overnight we lost power completely and when when the sun came up on Wednesday morning, there was no power at all. There were fires near us and big loud trucks on our street. Power was out all over our area and they thought it would be maybe days before it came back! We were all trying to stick it out. Mom and Dad just sat around sweating, but Dad was still sick so this was very uncomfortable for him. They talked about going to a hotel, but couldn't find any in the area that would take kitties. Then Dad found Harlie and I sitting in the bathtub PANTING! Harlie likes the bathtub a lot, but I don't. It was just the coolest place we could find, and it really wasn't that cool. It was literally about 90 degrees in our apartment. That's what Mom said. I don't know what that means, but I know it was way too hot for everyone. So not only were Mom and Dad worrying about Dad, but now they were worried about us because they had no way to cool us off. They decided they had to go to a hotel for Dad's health and the only way they could be sure we were ok was to take us to be boarded someplace! Our normal vet place didn't have any power either since they live so close to where we live, so Mom asked them where a good place to go would be and that's where they took us. I had to go away once before and it was a very bad experience for me. I still haven't blogged about it but I should. It was a little better this time because Harlie was with me. And even though she irritates me sometimes, I do love her a lot and it was very nice not to be alone. Mom made sure that Harlie and I could be in the same kennel and the lady there who took care of us was very nice. She left our carrier in the kennel with us so we could hide and have the towel that smelled like home. Mom was very very sad, but knew that it was better for us because they had an air conditioner. Harlie and I were not happy, but felt much better not to be panting anymore. Fortunately it only got dark one time and then Mom and Dad came back to get us. So yesterday we came back home, Dad had had another Dr appointment and the news was pretty good and we had power! We were all so happy to be home together. Usually after being in my carrier I run away and hide under the bed for awhile, but I stayed out with Mom and Dad and Harlie because we were all so happy to have electricity and be together again.

So that's why I haven't blogged or commented. Even before we lost power, we didn't have internet. And in case any beans are wondering about my Dad, they thought his kidneys might be failing at first, then they thought he had a disease that could eventually lead to kiney failure. But it turns out he has a kidney stone!!! So even though he is sometimes in pain and sometimes has to go be sick in the bathroom, we are all very happy that it is a kidney stone. And yesterday the doctor said there is a 95% chance that he will pass it on his own. That is why we are so happy now. Except Dad doesn't like the fact that he has one and that he is going to turn Three-Oh this year. It makes him feel like he is entering middle age. I actually don't know what any of this means, but Mom said I should write it in case anyone is curious. Hopefully this weekend I can come around and comment!

Finally some updates

2006-07-16T08:34:00.000-05:00

Hi Everykitty!

Sorry to cause you concern with my absence. As I mentioned in my last post, Mom and Dad have been very busy. Also we have been without our laptop that lets us do things on the internet from our air conditioned living room, and it's been too hot to sit in the office and try to update things. But Mom finally decided it was time and today it's not too hot to sit in the office. So here we are catching you up on lots of things that have been going on! We even updated links and stuff on the sidebar!

First I need to tell about the fun things that happened in June. I won't cover everything in this post, but at least I can get a few things down. The first big event for me in June was Oreo's Party! Since I turned one year old at the end of May, Mom says I am old enough now to visit friends and go to parties if I like. Unfortunately, I made it very late to Oreo's party. When Mom returned from her trip to Japan, her back was hurting her very very bad. That weekend I had to stay around home to give her the love she needed and to help out with Harlie. Finally that Sunday afternoon Mom said it was ok for me to go. I was very nervous because I was meeting everyone for the first time, and because it was my first teleporting experience. But I had a blast! Everyone was so nice and I had so much fun. Thanks Oreo for inviting me and throwing such a great party! Hopefully next party I can stay longer and have more to update about!

The next big thing to happen was of course the Torch Relay for the Catolympics! The first thing I had to do was wait for Meeko and Kiara to get to my house! They brought the torch all the way from Texas! I already blogged about when they got here, but I didn't yet get to show pictures of their visit! First Mom took some (embarassing) photos of me giving the lovely ladies some baths when they got here. They were very tired and deserved to be pampered I thought. I don't want anyone to think I'm not a good host!

Meeko seemed to like her bath!

So did Kiara!

The next day we did a little bit of sight seeing in Mew York City before I left on my leg of the relay to go to Catifornia. The camera was acting funny, so Mom didn't get as many pictures as she would have liked, but she got pictures of us at the site of the World's Fair, and crossing the Brooklyn Bridge. After that the camera gave out so we didn't get any photos at the Statue of Liberty or the Empire State building. But that's ok because we still have the great memories!

It was so nice to spend so much time with Meeko and Kiara. I think it's a good friendship now!

Then I was off to the west coast. When I got there, DK and gang were very generous to allow me to be a guest blogger and together, all the details of that part of the trip were covered. It seems I was very excited about the whole thing. I hope I didn't cause DKM too much trouble! I was so nervous about meeting the fluffies, but it was great and I got to learn to do binkies! They took me on a wonderful tour of San Francisco, which I documented on their blog. And then it was such a wonderful surprise that I got to go along for Sophia's hand-off to Max! I'm embarassed to admit that I was almost star-struck when I met Max (ok I was totally star-struck). I mean this guy is a super blogger, is totally in charge, and has written not one but TWO books! Not to mention he was the one behind Harlie's name! Max also wrote about that day, so I don't think there's much left for me to document.

I just have to say the whole thing was such a great experience! In my next post I'll talk about my experiences at the Catolympics, but after all this work on my blog today, I need to go take a nap!

Just a quick one for now

2006-07-14T22:53:00.000-05:00

Hi Everybody! I'm OK! We haven't even been on vacation or anything. It's just been really hot and Mom and Dad have been REALLY REALLY busy. I have so much to post about. The torch relay, the olympics, and many things before and since. But I wanted to make sure I got my gift in to the Empress on time. While I am not one of the Tomcat Stable, I do enjoy her blog very much and appreciate her charm, beauty, wit and just all around wonderfulness. We are truly blessed to have her in the blogosphere. We decided on something practical... a gift that perhaps could keep on giving even after clothes have gone out of fashion. Kukka, we hope you enjoy your blogiversary and have lots of fun zooming around the living room in your hot new car!

Mom says I get to post again tomorrow. YAY!