Two on Tuesday

The first two shots are Devon and Smokey...Auntie put this blanket in the bed that stays on the ottoman, and the boys loved it!  Smokey was in it, and when he left, Devon took over.  Devon enjoys being covered up, so Auntie laid some blanket over him.  Smokey went over and laid on top of Devon! 

 Smokey is not one to go and lay with someone else...so this was a special moment!  I am not sure he realized Devon was there :)

 Devon is like, get off me man!

Tanner was enjoying the action and a nice snuggle with mom.  Mom is trying to get in extra snuggles this week because on Friday, she leaves for Japan for 18 days...returning on January 3rd.  We may not be blogging much during that time, unless she can get some stuff scheduled.

Mancats love Christmas

The mancats have been busy over the last few weekends helping get the house and yard decorated for Christmas.  It is less than two weeks away now!

This is the black tree, used for Halloween this year, and moved into the dining room and decorated for Christmas!  Nothing like a good multipurpose tree!  Mom thought she was clever putting the snowman hat on the top!  You may need to biggify to see it better.  We decided to mainly use color our ornaments on this tree...Purple for Smokey, Blue for Devon, Green for Tanner and Red for Mojo.  Mom loves to buy sets of ornaments in our colors and is ultra happy when she can find one for each of us...see below.

Smokey

Tanner

^Angel^ Mojo

Devon

Here's our family ornament for 2011...mom got it at the beach this year...we love fish!

We have two other trees too, normal green ones...mom forgot to take a picture of them, but we'll try to get her working tonight :)

Foto Flashback

Devon is the craziest of the boys...he also enjoys wearing clothes at times, especially a pretty scarf.  I had this small tree skirt for a tiny tree for my office, and wondered what it would look like on him. 

Devon looks so pretty in his fancy collar!

Great job modeling the tree skirt Devon...you look very festive!

Wordless Wednesday

Toes on Tuesday

Tanner and Auntie show off their toes...

Thursday in the Garden

Today we are back in the garden...this time at mom and Auntie's family home...enjoy!

 ::Meowwww::

 

 Thanksgiving day was beautiful in the foothills of North Carolina.  The ground was covered in leaves and pecans!  Auntie is driving the tractor over to one of the trees to give it a good shake.

 Before the shaking begins though, the leaves need to be raked and the pecans on the ground already picked up.  Mom and Aunties parents, L and M, are working hard...

 This is one of their dogs...Samson. He is a treeing feist.

 L is shaking the tree now...you would not believe how many pecans fell off!  They were everywhere!

 In the end, we had 5, 5 gallon buckets full of pecans....and more trees to collect from.  Thankfully the sun was going down, so we didn't have to pick up any more :)

 Here's Auntie raking more leaves...

 L is picking them up to put on the truck...he's going to take them to the blueberry bushes as compost.

Just a cute shot of a calf with it's mom...aaaawwwww.

Check out more fantastic gardens over at Jonsie's place.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to all our US friends today.  We hope you are enjoying your turkey day feast!

 We are thankful for fresh water...many people and kitties around the world struggle to find clean drinking water.

 We are thankful for window whiffies...

 We are thankful for fresh nip...we would be thankful for dried nip too, but mom doesn't have a picture :)

 We are thankful for a brother that "has our back"

We are thankful for comfy sleeping spots...this is what we'll be doing while mom is gone to her parents house for the day.  We will be dreaming about the leftovers she had better bring to us :)

We are also thankful for friends and family, and wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving.

What are you thankfor for today?

Wordless Wednesday

Tummy Tuesday

This is the dead kitten pose by Devon.  He lays like this and whimpers until you notice him.  We usually make some joke about him stinking before the trash is taken off :)  He loves it! 

Fevvers Friday

 We are so excited to see the Eastern Bluebirds at the bird feeders again.  They have returned in full force, and we hope that Auntie will buy some mealworms for them because that is their favorite food!

 Flat boys with an owl at the NC State Fair...

A pelican on a channel marker down in Galveston Texas...mom spent the other weekend down there visiting a friend.  (You may need to biggify to see him better.)

Well, there you have it folks...Fevvers on Friday!

Tanner Update

Thanks to everyone for the purrs for Plavix...Tanner has been on this for a whole week now, and no adverse reactions have been noted!!!  YAY for Tanner!

He is now a walking pharmacy though, as we take two pills morning and night.

Morning time we get 1/2 of an Atenolol, and a whole Enalipril.
Evening time we get 1/4 of the Plavix, and 1/2 of an Atenolol.

Tanner is a great at taking pills, and usually doesn't give any trouble.  We have been doing his heart meds in varying doses now for 7 years.  He was diagnosed at age two with HCM.  I hate that any of my boys have a medical condition, but I am thankful that it is Tanner because he is so laid back with taking his medicine!  I think it would be much worse, if I was having to struggle with him daily to medicate.

Our next heart recheck will be in June of 2012 at the NC State Veterinary Teaching Hospital, Cardiology Clinic.  I feel so blessed to live close to this wonderful facility. 

Wordless Wednesday

Two on Tuesday

Me and my shadow!

Smokey was able to go out, strictly supervised of course, for a few minutes last weekend.  The weather was beautiful, and I wanted to use the light to get some photos of him.  He was more interested in eating the grass, but that's ok too.  I know he had a great time!

Mancats are Clean Cats

Captured this video the other morning...Tanner was washing Devon's head...such sweet boys.  When I watched later, I realized that I also caught Smokey in the chair washing.  Mancats are certainly clean!

Tanner Update

Many of you already know that Tanner has a heart condition called HCM.  When he was at the vet school last June, it was determined that he is at an increased risk for blood clots.  Therefore we decided to try him on an aspirin therapy, for prevention.  We tried taking 1/4 of an 81 mg pill every three days...Tanner could not tolerate this medication.  Severe vomiting occured each time we tried to start.  We tried about three times, in case there was something else going on with his stomach at the time.  Each trial produced the same results. 

 After speaking with his cardiologists and his regular vet, we have decided to try him on Plavix.  This drug is relatively expensive, but I hope he can tolerate it.  He will take 1/4 of a pill each day.  I have a months worth at the house, and we will be starting tonight. 

I would like to ask for some purrs that he can tolerate this drug, as there aren't any other options for prevention for him.

On another note, he has lost almost a pound of weight!  We are very excited about this, and continue to work on his diet for more loss.

Almost Wordless Wednesday

 Window views with Smokey, Devon, Tanner, Cousin Pirate and Cousin Sophie!

These photos were all from a few years ago...just felt like remembering my boy Mojo today.  He loved to go outside, but could go very little due to his allergies issues.  During his last couple of weeks of life, we were having some really good days, health wise for him and weather, so we let him enjoy the fresh air and the outdoors.  (Supervised of course)  This is the look of pure bliss on his face!

Trio on Tuesday

Devon, along with Cousins Pirate and Sophie, enjoy some window whiffies!  It's turning a bit cooler now, but we like to sit in the windows on the weekends...

Dona Nobis Pacem

Peace in our household looks like this...

• Mom watching 'fun' tv with us because there is nothing else on to take her attention.
• No squealing or staring contest
• Everyone getting all the canned food they want because we are all sharing nicely
• Wishing all the creatures of the world had things as good as we did, warm house, full bellies, soft bed, and most of all love

Here's to peace throughout the world...

~Four Crazy Cats

Wordless Wednesday

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween from the Four Crazy Cats!

 Devon has dressed up like a bat...

 Tanner is a frog...

Smokey is going as a black cat this year!

Are you dressing up?  Do you get many trick or treaters at your house?  We hate the ringy bell, so mom keeps the light off and doesn't hand out candy.

Happy Gotcha Day Devon

Devon, it was 10 years ago today that you came to live with us.  It was an exciting time, having a new kitten in the house.  We all loved your crazy antics and playful attitude toward life, all, except Smokey that is.  He was not too thrilled with a new little brother.  It was hard for me in that first week to know what to do.  I wanted to snuggle you to pieces, but didn't want to upset Smokey.  I actually debated about whether to keep you...

 I am so glad that I made the choice to stick it out and make it work.  You still love Smokey, and he is better about hanging with you.  We have figured out how to share lap time and the bed and all is still right in the world. 

10 things I love about you on your 10th Gotcha Day

10) You are still as crazy as ever
9) You love to push the envelope on rule breaking
8)  Watching tv with you at night, with you on a pillow touching me with your paws
7) Your loud purr when you are excited about something
6) The crazy way you try to jump, but don't actually get your legs off the ground
5) The friendship between you and Tanner
4) The crazy poses you get into when sleeping
3) The 'dead kitten' pose and whimper if no one notices, or comments
2) Your predictable routines throughout the day

 and the number one reason is...

1) you are mine!!

Happy Gotcha Day to my crazy middle boy!!