Contest Winner and Garden Post

Thanks to everyone who participated in the Toes Contest on Tuesday...the answers are, Smokey was the first photo, and Devon was the second! Manye of you were correct in your guesses...so I employed the scientific wadded up paper on a plate technique to select the winner!

I asked a co-worker, whose last day is TODAY...she is retiring, to draw the winner...

THE ISLAND CATS!!!

Island Cats if you will email me with your address, I'll get your prize in the mail.

scanipe1 @ nc (dot) rr (dot) com

Now, on to our Thursday Garden post...As I mentioned earlier in the week, the boys were allowed outside (highly supervised) for a few minutes on Sunday. The weather was gorgeous, and they all had a great time. Tanner demonstrates his wonderful pruning skills for you all today...Enjoy!

For more Garden posts check out The Society of Feline Gardeners!

Wordless Wednesday

Toesday Tuesday - A Contest

Today we feature the toes of two of the Four Crazy Cats...can you tell who they belong to? I'll give you a clue...it's not Tanner!
Number 1

Number 2

I'll do a random drawing of the correct answers and send a small gift. Good luck!

Mancats Like Autumn

The mancats were allowed in the yard on Sunday this week...it's been several months since they've been out. We had a gorgeous day here, in the mid 70's, so we all took advantage and enjoyed the cooler day.

Smokey ate lots of grass! Thankfully he stayed outside until it all came back up :) Great job Goose! Tanner spent his time stalking birds and pruning some plants.

You may be wondering why there are no pictures of Devon enjoying the sunshine. Well, Devon likes to be naughty when he is outside and try to run off. He gets very limited time, not enough normally to get a good picture of him. I've tried his harness, but the last couple of times he has completely freaked out on me. I'll keep working on finding a way for him to enjoy the fresh air, while staying safe.

Today is our 305th post!! We missed the 300th, but we never claimed to be on top of things!! We are thankful to have met so many wonderful bloggers and kitties and woofies. Thanks for making this journey with us.

Frootbat Fostering Flashback Friday

This is Cole...he is a mighty Frootbat!
Cole came to live with us, along with his brother Caleb, and two sisters, Cathy and Caitlyn. They were all taking the bottle, but in the transistion stage to solid food. The girls took right to solid food and never looked back. The boys were not so keen on switching...what's wrong with a hot bottle of milk? (These boys wanted their milk warmer than any other kittens we've had...if it wasn't a touch on the 'too warm' side, they wouldn't take it.) I love bottle feeding kittens because you can feel their bellies getting warm as you feed...such a pleasant feeling.

We tried tough love...only one bottle at night...they would go all day without eating and then just inhale the bottle! We became softies. We finally just gave them bottles at normal times to keep them eating, and offered dry or canned in between...eventually they started eating. It was a proud day for this foster mom of the frootbats!

These kittens all found loving homes. My friend adopted Cole and he is going on 7 years old this year. Have a great weekend everyone!

In the Forest

Today's garden post is another exercise in imagination...
Devon sitting behind another halloweenus tree variety, in the beginnings of a complete forest of accessories...

Finally growing tired of the stuff...he is a very orderly cat :)

The table forest before being disbursed throughout the house...many black cats live in this forest, along with pumpkins and witches. You may need to biggify to see better.

For more fabulous garden posts, check out the Society of Feline Gardeners.

Wordless Wednesday

Two on Tuesday

As we approach the all important holiday, especially if you are a black cat,

various decorations and Halloween tidbits will appear on the blog. Afterall, Smokey, Devon and Tanner are the Halloween trio!

These two large bobble head cats were given to us by a friend...They stand about 2-1/2 to 3 feet tall and are a lot of fun.

On the bottom shelf of the bookcase, you'll see the Halloween trio represented in smaller bobbles too. These were an after Halloween sale find...which is the best kind!

Does any particular holiday represent your household best? Have you started decorating for Halloween?

Mancats like Pink

Last week a package arrive for The Four Crazy Cats...it was from the Ozark Mountain Cats!!
Devon waited patiently for mom to open the package...it was soft and squishy...wonder what it could be?

It was two beautiful pillow cases!! Mom loved them, and put one on the floor for us to check out. Turns out, true mancats like pink too...here's Devon camped out.

Tanner needed a bit of persuasion, but the pillowcase, made playing with this toy a lot of fun!

Cousin Pirate thought it was fantastic, and was seen laying on it many times over the weekend!

Thanks again to the Ozark Mountain cats for such a lovely gift!

Avast, ye scurvy dogs!

Today, September 19th, in the year of our Lord two thousand and ten, we be commanded to Meow Like a Pirate! We sail the high seas in search of gold doubloons and pieces of eight.

Avast, seein' how we be land lubber and lily-livered mateys, we hired a couple of buccaneers to take to the high seas in our place...

Shiver me Timbers, they be returning with fantastic spoils and plenty of grog...

Ham, or Big Slab of salt pig be on the menu...

Lobster or Roach of the sea

niptinis and grog for the swashbucklers....

Milk and bubble teas for the buccaneers-in-training...

Fresh spoils of the seas too...

Be nay ne'er shy and commence ye-selves to partying...All ye scurvy dogs!

Flashback to Fostering

It was always fun getting a new litter of kittens. You forget just how small they are until they arrive!
Sorscha (black) and Necie (tortie) have been shown here before...but I couldn't resist the cuteness today!

You may need to biggify to get the effect of the cute toesies!

Toasty warm, camped out on their heating pad. These girls were easy, two was a good number...Auntie and I both had one to feed and make potty. They were very loud girls though, and seemed to know when you were taking them into the bathroom for 'potty' time. They would scream bloody murder! Luckily, that phase only lasts a short while and then they were going on their own.

There you have it...looking forward to Meow like a Pirate Day on Sunday!

Thursday in a different kind of Garden

Today we feature a different kind of tree...this is the plastic, purple variety known as Pinus halloweenus. Enjoy!
For more gardening post visit the Society of Feline Gardeners.

Wordless Wednesday

Happy Birthday Devon!!

Happy 9th Birthday to Devon, the Bat Cat!!
Here's Devon when he still lived with his foster mom, and now God-Mother.

Devon had been at my house for a few days in this picture...

After a couple of months, he lost most of his white, scruffy hair, and went to solid, sleek black.

Officially a mancat here!

Here's a picture of Devon showing off his new birthday toy. We celebrated at home this past weekend with Catnip, new toys, and special canned food and yummy treats!

Happy Birthday sweet baby...Wishing you all the best today, and a good long healthy life!

Mancats on the Mend

The boys are definitely on the mend, and I am thankful! We (Auntie and I) spent the weekend cleaning, and our house now has a lovely, but faint aroma of bleach! All the bedding was washed, and all surfaces wiped down or scrubbed with a light bleach solution. We should be germ-free! I teased with Auntie that we would probably all come down with something because it is too clean!

We also decorated for Halloween on Sunday afternoon...more pictures to come of that project later...

The boys spent their weekend resting and eating and playing and sleeping :) It's so nice to have Mancats on the mend though!!

This picture is Devon (on the green blanket) and Smokey in the guest room.

Flashback on Friday

This is an old favorite of my boys...it was taken in 2003, when we lived at a townhouse. We were fostering quite a few kittens at the time, and I think this photo shows the caring and sharing nature of Smokey. He is sitting on the toy, looking out the sliding glass door...up close to the door are several kittens, sleeping. He chose to sit here instead of disturbing them. He is such a gentle soul. I love that Devon and Tanner look like they are playing together as well.

Hope you all have a great weekend!

PS - The boys are all improving...eating is back to normal, playing is increasing, and sneezing is decreasing. We are on the mend! On the menu for this weekend - washing all the sneeze juice off everything! Blinds, headboard, cat beds, mirrors, fireplace, etc, etc, etc... :)

Thursday in the Garden (and Mo-Cats Day)

Wishing everyone a fantastic day full of Mo-Cats!!

We are back today with a normal Thursday Garden post, and we have some exciting news!
This pretty kitty is guarding our front garden area...Won't be long before all the Halloween decorations will be making their way from the attic to the rest of the house! I can hardly wait!
The Knock-Out Roses are still blooming...This bright pink is Aunties favorite flower color.
These little cuties are still giving us quite the show. I love the pop of white amongst all the green!
This is our exciting news...we were chosen as Yard of the Month in our neighborhood. This sign appeared last Saturday morning, so we were surprised and pleased. I think we won because of all the great tips and advice we've received from all of our wonderful gardening friends in the Society of Feline Gardeners. Please go and read about all the beautiful gardening kitties here.

Wordy Wednesday - Health Update and Video

Thanks to everyone for the purrs yesterday...Smokey went to the vet and received some fluids. He is continuing on the cyproheptadine, and also started on some Pepcid. I have a bag of fluids at home that I can give if he needs them. So far, the fluids have helped to increase his appetite and he is eating and drinking better. I think the congestion is also clearing up a bit, and we are on the upswing to recovery.

Thanks to Teri with the Lysine suggestion...we give 500 every day, sick or not, so we have doubled that amount now. We love Lysine, and believe it does offer great benefit to kitties!

The video below is Tanner on Saturday, have a fairly mild coughing fit. He hasn't coughed in several days, so this part of his cold is over...he has two more antibiotic pills left to finish. He is sneezing some still, but he plays and eats just fine.

Thanks again to everyone...please keep the purrs coming...they are helping my boys!!

Two on Tuesday

The boys spent time snuggling together this weekend...I love it when the boys hang out.
Smokey and Devon (front with white belly) laying in my scrapbooking room, while I work on their albums. This was before Smokey came down with the terrible cold...he's heading to the vet in a few minutes to get some fluids and hopefully some relief. He isn't eating well and is dehydrated. Some healing purrs would be appreciated.

Devon and Tanner in one of the beds in front of the fireplace. Tanner is feeling much better, and his coughing has stopped. He is sneezing now, so I hope he doesn't get as congested as Smokey is currently.

Flashback to Fostering

I haven't done a flashback to fostering post in a while, and thought I would introduce you to Tybalt. I only had him for a day. He was dropped off at my office one morning by the folks downstairs that had found him wandering around the parking lot. They had seen him a few times and felt he deserved better, so they brought him to me.
Here he is just hanging out with some papers...we had just renovated and moved back into our spaces, so please ignore the super messy office :) He made himself right at home. I feel like he had just gotten lost from his home because he was comfortable being inside.

He took a nice long nap after a hearty meal. He was hungry and thirsty and luckily I had a bag of food in my office. Tybalt was not the first cat to be brought to me this way...so I tried to stay prepared.

He eventually found my chair and just took over...later that day, I drove him to another home where he was fostered until adopted.

I am thankful to have such a flexible work environment where animals in special circumstances are welcomed.

Have a great weekend everyone...enjoy the extra day, if you get one.

September is here

We are a day late in posting our new calendar, but Tanner needed some attention yesterday. He is still coughing, but he is playing and eating, so not feeling too poorly today. Thanks for all the purrs!
September is a big month for birthdays...Cousin Sophie and Devon will both be turning 9. Devon is already reminding me that his birthday is coming up...I have been getting some good ideas for presents from reading some of your blogs and toy reviews!! Some of my favorites are Flynn showing us plague ratsie. And Smokey playing with the Skinneeez Squirrel.

My dad is having a birthday too...he is coming up to our house to go to a football game that weekend. Go Tarheels!

I'm looking forward to this weekend, I have a scrapbooking workshop on Friday night, and then I get to spend three days with the boys. Perfect timing since they are all coming down with some sort of cold thing. Extra snuggles are what the doctor ordered!

Next week, we will be back to our regular Garden post...go check out our friends gardens listed at Jonesie's page...