some beans is GOOD!

clicky here for the story of some boy scouts who helped a kitty. it's a furry nice thing to read, and a furry good idea that could maybe help somekitty you know, someday!

we're bored

bored, bored, bored. our beans never do nuthin' worth blogging about. what's a kitty to do?

we starts getting restive and hungry around 4:30 in the morning, so we talk, sing and thump on the door until He gets up, stumbling and muttering. She won't leave crunchies out in the open at night, 'cause fat ed will glom onto them all, and get even MORE jy-MUNDUS. He makes that koffee stuff and doles out our food. afters, He washes up, scrapes His face fur, changes pelts, and goes to the job at 6:00. He tells us to be good kitties, and to guard the house. well, duh! we're always good (for something) and if someone comes in, we'll watch 'em close to see if they have any stinky goodness!

when He's gone, it's pretty quiet, unless xing came out of her "suite" before He left. then we chases her and knocks stuff around, and it gets very asitin' for a while; but for some reason, she don't like it much. (her "suite" is the two rooms in the center of the house that The Boy used to live in. she hides in there most nights with the doors closed, 'cause otherwise the beans come out really mad and hollerin' when we chase her around and make her howl.) They just don't understand having fun. maybe THAT's why They're so dull.

our She likes to sleep a little later, so at 6:45 we hears the black box on the headboard start talkin'. usually, She talks back all grumpy and whacks it a good one. we wait a little more, an' eventually She staggers out to peer at the floor in case there's something She wouldn't want to step on. (an' don't think it's only us that drags stuff outside Their door. the d*gs leave their sheep chew-hoofs there, too, and if they're not spit-icky, they're dry and sharp!)

it takes Her 'way longer to navigate the gettin'-up ritual, as ed posted about a couple weeks ago. then She plays with each of us, pets xena, and makes a peanut butter sammich for breakfast. we all beg (successfully). at 7:30, She goes to the job, and we lays around, napping and looking at each other the whole day. sometimes a bird flies past or a squirrel sits on the carport, but that's it. nuthin' to blog about. and we don't gots no toys, 'cause cocoa and xena eats 'em all. blaaaahhhhhhhhhhh.

what's this "job" thing, anyway? wouldn't They rather stay home and take naps with us and amuse us? we're VERY nappable and amusable, and we'll trade lotsa head bumps and purrs for amusement. it's a furry favorable exchange rate just now! They can't possibly understand how important this is; dull humans. dull. dull. dull.

we're bored. bored. bored.

just 'cause it tickled our fancy . . .

what on earth is this kitty thinking?
(and don't ask where our fancies are; we're not telling!)

The original Vita-Mineral Mix from 3 years ago

Mom found it on an old hard drive!!

1 ½ cup yeast powder (any food-grade yeast—brewer’s, tarula, or flaked)
½ c kelp powder or granules
1 c lecithin granules
1 c wheat germ—TOASTED!!
1 c bran (wheat, oats, rye)
½ c dolomite or bone meal (dolomite’s easier to find)

mix together and store in covered coffee can or similar container. REFRIGERATE!!! add 2 tsp of mix to each small 6.5 oz can ( I just stir 1 tsp into moist food morning & evening). three times a week, give one drop of vitamin E and add ½ tsp of cod liver oil.

some health care tips for kitties

nels sez:

mom sez to tell ya, we has noticed that some kitties in the catosphere have admitted to a few health problems. when spottycat-that-was no longer had uncle eeker to groom her, and got too old to do a good job of it herself, she began having matts. mom gave her the powder listed on this page and it did wonders. her fur grew back in, became glossy again, she didn't have dander, and didn't matt anymore. it took several months, of course, for all this to be accomplished, but at least she didn't have to spend her last four years being constantly annoyed by people trying to cut out matts. those darn things really hurt--they are like dreadlocks. they twist and pull on our skin, and that's why we don't like pettin's there very much.

it's the furry furst one on the page, Anitra Frazier's Vita-Mineral Mix. beans can get the stuff in the health food store, or maybe even in larger regular food stores. mom's pretty sure she also bought raw wheat germ, toasted it in a low oven until it smelled good, then stirred it and cooked it a little more, and added that to the mix. YOU MUST TOAST THE WHEAT GERM, 'CAUSE IT'S TOXIC OTHERWISE!!! this newer recipe doesn't add it. but you can, if you want; it can't hurt AS LONG AS IT'S GOOD AND TOASTED!!!!!.

it doesn't take long to do, and it's easy to just sprinkle on wet food or mix with a little water and pour on crunchies. you makes a bunch at a time, and can keep it sealed up tight in a clean ol' coffee can in the fridge! the dose of the mix is 1-2 tsp per kitty per day.

chaotic cat says "Hummy microwave heats digestive bran and then rubs it into my coat to clean me instead of putting me in yucky water ... wonder if this will also help with longer haired cats too?" can't think of any reason why not, unless they don't like being rubbed or brushed.

if you hafta cut matts, mom sez, grasp the matt at the base (closest to the skin, so you don't pull on it while working) and cut from the edge farthest away from the skin down towards the body. you gotta have a mellow cat, sharp scissors, and do this with incredible care and lotsa patience. do this several times, making a sorta fringe. that breaks apart the matt and lessens the tension, so it's easier to cut off down at the skin edge. this method doesn't pull on the skin, like the so-called "matt cutters". OUCH!

poor rocky's got pee problems, and maybe he and any of you other cats out there with that tendency might benefit from dr. pitcairn's powder - it has vitamin c in it, and ofurr healthy things!

we wishes all our kitty furriends good health so we can keep playing together for a long, long time! purrs & kitty-kisses to you all!

kolar kitty, redux

jake, of jake & bathsheba, made this suggestion a couple of days ago in a comment on the story of the kolar cat, KC: "Maybe the company should rescue another kitty since they're good for the customers."

well, here's the story on that:

after KC went to nanet's, boss offered to get mom another kitty from the home-grown stock at his house, or take her to the shelter to get one, or whatever she wanted. but she said she just couldn't do it anymore. losing KC was SO traumatic, she didn't know what would happen to her brain if it happened again with another kitty.

and since nanet had gone to a different workplace, that meant there would be only one "traffic cop" (mom) to constantly remind a group of so-called "grown-ups" to (1) be sure the doors were closed behind them, (2) to not stand in the doorway holding open the doors while talking (boss's d*g, bullet, got run over in the street in front of work when a customer did that), (3) stop scaring the kitty, (4) stop teasing the kitty, (5) etc., etc.

while she loved & adored little KC, and enjoyed her company so much while she was with them, those were also the most psychologically wearing two years of mom's life, and just couldn't bear to do it any more. besides, what would be the odds that any other kitty they got would have the perfect temperament that KC did for being a shop cat? so, sadly, no more cats at kolar.

(however, one of the repair team brings his d*g, buck, in with him when he comes to work now. that makes the one grump who didn't like cats happy, and the rest of us cat lovers like him, too. buck was thrown away just like KC, but now has a wonderful furrever home with his daddy, monty.)

kitty herd size poll results

here are the results of our previous poll, with 38 kitties responding:

15.8%
1
31.6%
2
26.3%
3
13.2%
4
5.3%
5
5.3%
6
0.0%
7
2.6%
8+

so we can see that moderate size families are just about the norm. or as "norm" as cat households get . . . =^;-)^=

party sammiches

mom sez:
we're tryin' to bring up those raggamuffin kits of ours to be perlite and socially acceptable, so we're sending along these sammiches when they teleport in for the festivities at skeeeeezix's tomorrow.

hope yas like 'em! enjoy, and drink responsibly!!

our She is just silly

edmund sez:

y'know, She has this picture as her screensaver, both at work and at home.


criminentalies! why not a picture of us?? or one of us, at least? or one each, alternating weeks? what a sappy-lookin' guy. She just sighs and giggles whenever She sees it, then goes around smiling for a while, like after She sees skeezix's birthday hat picture. we don't mind that at all; HE'S a great guy, and at least he's a real cat--what's the big whoop about senor pussycat?

burns my tailfeathersfur every time i think about it. do YOUR beans make the "oooooooo ahhhhhhhh so cute" *giggle* noises for this guy? can anykitty know what goes on in their heads?

Look! we are honorary catizens of Hot(m)BC!!!

We are just so PROUD! Thank you, MomRobyn, Sanjee, Boni Maroni,
Mini, Gree and Pepi!!

K.C., the office kitty

nels sez:

one morning in the long ago, She was late leaving the house for work, so she hurried off in the green machine. as She got near the office, She saw a little black kitty with a white bib, wandering in the center of a busy intersection. She made the machine STOP! and She dashed out into the traffic to scoop up the kitty. it scrambled up Her front, perched on Her shoulder and purred like a swarm of bees into Her ear as She got back into the machine. then it climbed down onto her chest and clung there, purring, all the way to the office. it was a new office, but an old job. they were in the process of moving Kolar's computer-building business into a larger space, and there was much to do.

when She went in the front door, the boss was right there. "whatcha got?" he said. "a kitty; i found it in an intersection." "whattaya gonna do with it?" "i dunno. we're already maxed out at my house on cats; the old man will holler if i bring home another one. i thought maybe somebody here might take it. or--maybe it could be an office kitty?" *fluttering eyelashes madly*.

"hmmmmmm. yeah, maybe it could be an office kitty. we'll try it." what a nice bean he is!!! he lives out in the country, and his wife is hostess to a jillion-cat herd that lives outside, so he is quite used to kitties, although he prefers *shudder* big ol' hairy d*gs.

anyway, soon the other office lady, janet aka "nanet" came in, and inside of an hour, the kitty had a name (KC for "kolar cat"), a bed (in a drawer, with a towel to sleep on), a collar, food, water, bowls, a litter box and scoop, toys, and a scratching post. things appeared like magic! everybody (except one grump) had kitties and brought or bought stuff for her. our mom took her for Her shots and ladygardenectomy, and nanet took her home to visit with her two kitties on weekends, so she was never locked up alone for more than overnight. our mom and nanet referred to themselves as her "co-mommies".

so KC began her career as an office cat and official greeter. she was a natural--a friendly, interested, well-mannered (N*E*V*E*R used her claws) kitty, very purry, she would come up to people bringing in machines and strop their ankles or jump right up onto the counter to see what was what! nobody EVER got stinky about her being there, and most asked for her if they didn't see her right off.

after about two years had passed happily, an employee from a remote office came to town for a seminar and stayed in the upstairs loft of the building. while he was unloading his suitcases, he propped open the door and out she went unbeknownst to him. the next morning, our mom was heartbroken when they could not find her. she'd been known to hide in cabinets and other deep, dark places, but even crunching her favorite toy, a crackly tinfoil ball, failed to bring her running. they figured out what must have happened, and She sent her boss(!) out to drive up and down the streets to see if he could find her--either way. (i told you he was a good bean; and he also knew very well not to cross a woman whose cat was missing.)

She called the businesses on either side of Kolar to alert them, and with a heavy heart, called nanet at her new job and gave her the bad news. soon there were fliers posted nearby, with a picture of the kitty. all day dragged by, and mom cried all day long. sat at Her desk and leaked quietly, didn't care who saw, waited on customers at the counter and answered their questions about why. some of them even came 'round the counter to hug her and assure her KC'd come back.

all night, She cried some more, and then some more. next day, same thing. sadness. gloom. leaking.

on the third morning, as mom was opening the door at work, the phone was ringing. the lady at the business next door wanted to know if the kitty we were looking for had a white chest and red collar. scared that they had found her dead on the rough hillside behind the building, She trembled but answered, "yes". "well, she's locked in our bathroom and she's about to tear the door down. for goodness sake, come get her! one of our workers found her in the bed of his truck this morning!!!" mom's heart sprouted wings and flew her right over the big fence and onto the porch next door. the lady laughed with her as they saw not one, but TWO black paws scrabbling anxiously out from under the bathroom door.

we don't know how long she'd been in the bed of his truck, how she got there, or anything else. all that was important was that she was home. mom hugged her until she squeaked! and scolded her, and hugged her, and cried some more, but happy tears. then She called nanet and shared the big news, so there were TWO bawling, happy women in springfield that morning. mom and nanet agreed that something had to be done to prevent that happening again.

so at lunch time, nanet's sweetman, alan, came and picked little KC up and whisked her away to her once weekend, now furrever home. nobody--not mom, not boss, not anyone--EVER wanted to go through THAT again, and gladly gave up seeing her if it meant she would be safe. so mom had visitation rights and went to see her now and again. KC's still living there, happy and spoiled rotten, with her brofurs.

that was three years ago. folks who come in to the office still ask, "where's the kitty?"! i guess she made quite an impression. =^..^=

One of the 2,996: Yvette Anderson

The kitties' mom here, taking over the blog for this important message:

On this solemn day of remembrance, I am honored to memorialize Mrs. Yvette Anderson of New York, NY, who worked at the NY State Department of Taxation and Finance as a Keyboard Specialist. Her office was in the World Trade Center's North Tower on the 87^th floor. She was at work on 9/11/01, and like so many others, left this world for the next on that day. May she live forever, safe and radiantly happy, in the arms of her G*d.

Orphaned at the age of 15, she learned to be self reliant and hard working, values she left as her legacy to family and friends. Many folks would have become humorless and dour during a life of striving, but not Yvette. Her picture perfectly illustrates her joie d'vivre.

She demonstrated her work ethic by holding two jobs (weekends, waitressing at a soul food restaurant; weekdays, Keyboard Specialist at the Tower), AND working on a Bachelor’s Degree in Restaurant & Hotel Management. She dreamed of opening a restaurant of her own, specializing in good ol’ Southern comfort foods.

She was only 53 when terrorists murdered her, but had already accomplished much in her life. She raised children, tended to the elderly, and took joyous part in the vibrant life of the White Rock Baptist Church, in praise, song, dance—and food! She nourished many of the flock in body and soul.

We remember her in prayer, and are thankful for her life as a G*dly representative here on earth, for the positive role she played in the lives of many. Her life had meaning, and we can still profit by her lessons.

Thank you, Yvette, for being one of us. Your time here was far too short, but so very well spent. You and those you left behind are never far from our thoughts, and we continue to pray for healing and well-being for all who miss you.

my Mommy gave us a nip party!

xingxing purrs:

ahhhhhhh! and she recorded it for posterity:
here's the boys, too, sleepin' it off with big ol' nipnaps


please don't forget to vote in our poll on the right side of the page! my Mommy's going to post this for me, 'cause i'm gonna take my nipnapnow!

new poll, old results

nelson sez:

well, She has finally quit cussin' about vizu and got the poll the way She wanted it. the new poll's on the right side of this page, so it doesn't take up so much space in the posting part (learned that nifty trick from skeezix's blog). please send yer friends and neighbors over to vote, 'cause we're really interested in this one. it'll be up there for a week, and then we'll tell you the results.

4:00 a.m. - 13.0%	6:00 a.m. - 13.0%
4:30 a.m. - 8.7%	6:30 a.m. - 17.4%
5:00 a.m. - 4.3%	7:00 a.m. - 4.3%
5:30 a.m. - 17.4%	7:30 a.m. - 21.7%

the results from the previous poll (what time is breakfast?), with 23 respondents, are above. we hope They notice that there are still some kitties who ask for breakfast earlier than we do! (but not many . . . *sigh*.) we do put up with some ignoring on the weekend days (waiting sometimes until 6:30 when our tummies are rubbin' against our backbones), but we voice our opinions at precise 15-minute intervals until someone staggers out to feed us. i was accidentally locked in Their den one time, and the bottom of the den's door has dozens of dents in it. i figure that's from all the shoes they chuck at it to convince us to knock it off. doesn't work. never will.

nitro has a snack

xing lu sez:
my Mommy was slurpin' down a can of ravioli while she watched a moovy called arsenic & old lace for the 'leventy-third time. when the moovy was over, she went off to do something else, and i caught nitro raiding. i kept hopin' that he'd get his head stuck, but it didn't happen this time. rats!

(and my Mommy sez there was 'sposdta be a poll posted yesterday, but she and vizu just weren't seeing eye-to-eye on the subject. maybe it's coming later)

more pictures!

here's our He & She, whooping it up at a family wedding. you can tell what a good time they're having by the redness of Her face;-)

on the right is our Boy. he doesn't live here anymore but we see him at least once a week. he gives us skritches and tail-pulls, mostly.


in the picture at the left, you see sweet old quiet xena, who never bothers us.



at the lower right is cocoa, who bothers us A LOT!!! but from what He and She say, she'll mellow out eventually. we hope to survive the process.

finally, at left is The-Dog-That-Was, Dashing Thor Thunderfoot, xena's daddy. he was a Good Dog and put up with all sorts of nonsense, like the Boy dressing him up. he was always ready for a ride-in-the-car, chasing squirrels (They had to refer to those critters as "fluffytails" in thor's hearing, or he would go berserk trying to get out the door). he had the most happy-go-lucky personality anydog has ever had. even us meowers miss him.

we will post more critter pictures another time--hope you're having a warm, nappish, comfy, full-tummy kinda day! we are!!

it wasn't me this time!

Nitro sez:

well, last night, She found out it's not only me that scarfs up leftovers!

She was unavoidably delayed in the bean litterbox room when She heard "clink" "clink" "clink" coming from the direction of the kitchen (which from Her position was out the door to the left, and behind Her). She knew it was the sound of a spoon or fork being moved around in a bowl as a pink tongue slurped up yummy lickins.

"NITRO!!!" She bellowed. the clinking stopped. started again. "DAMMIT, NITRO!!!" silence.

"clink"

"that does it!!! i'm squirtin' your mangy butt off when i get outta here! go ahead, keep lickin, just keep on lickin!!"

"clink"

"flush"

*creeping silently (for a bean) around the doorjamb, plant mister at the ready . . . *

"what the . . . why, xingie! what are YOU doing, slurping up the remains of my garlic pasta? do you like it? want mommy to get you some more, sweetheart?"

*GAAAAKKKKKK* (sound of nitro gagging in disgust)

jeez; not only did xing not get squirted, but got some more lickins, too. and I got squirted for daring to get closer to see how much she got! i ask you, is that rank favoritism, or what?!?

(She's smirking and muttering something about "The Smothers Brothers", whoever they are.)

plastic-head ed

nitro sez:


honestly, ed's a helpless, hopeless addict. does you wants the bitey put on anything plastic, anything crinkly, anything crunchy? he's yer man, er, cat. munchmunchmunchmunchmunch.he'll chew until his jaws get tired or until you take it away from him. if there were cellophane gum, he'd be savin' his allowance to buy it. newspapers are great, too. he sits next to the chest in the picture for minutes at a time, just chompin' on that paper with his eyes closed. She says he musta been a train conductor in another life.

and here's the absolute proof of the puddin' (*hah* i'm witty today! i'm so witty, i'm so witty, i feel pretty, and witty, and bright . . .)*ow! Mom!! criminy! ok, ok, i'll get back on track right now!* . notice the totally absorbed, blissed-out look on his face:


are any of the rest of you afflicted with this odd compulsion? is it vile and to be shunned, or a legitimate hobby to be embraced (as long as you don't swallow any of the chewee)? any insights into the behavior? our cousin charlie fluffytail was a wool sucker, but then again, he was a balinese, an' he pretty much couldn't help it. (we don't mean anything detrimental against balineezers--She told us that a breeder told her lotsa meezers is furry fond of lanolin, and that's what's in wool.)

okay, you asked for pictures.

here's tiny baby ed, 9 weeks old, the first week he was in our house.





and here he is a year later.


you know, She sez there's a song that goes, "what a difference a day makes". well, here's 365 of 'em for ya.


by the way, here are ed's latest stats in kittenwars:

• Won: 4158 (58%)
• Lost: 2241 (31%)
• Drawn: 795 (11%)

and darned if there isn't another Sir Edmund there! who knew?

holey socks! we've been slackers!

we realizes we hasn't been blogging the last two days--our She has been getting us set up on catster and on the pet blog network, and doing some whatchacallit--bean business--so the puter has been overworked. She told us to leave it alone for a while so it wouldn't have a nervous break down, so we did. we don't know how much time we will have available to spend on catster, but we've already made lotsa furrends there. our paws get pretty tired sometimes, and it's hard to fit in lotsa typing amongst the mandatory (and optional) naps! none of us ever met a nap we didn't like!! an' our He has been home this week, too, so we've been bugging paying Him lotsa attention.

but now She's done, and we can get back to business. we wants to ask if there's anything that we could do better for you, our bloggie furrends. would we be more readable if we change fonts? colors? post more pictures? fewer? (we promise there won't be too many more scholarly posts to snore through.) any other hints, tips, or ideas from you 'sperienced blogcats? please tell us in a comment or a e-mail, and we will sure try hard to improve!

thanks, furrends!

n-e-n-x