Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Thanks Diamond

Diamond was kind enough to nominate the boyz for this award:



Here are the rules:
1) Put the logo on your blog.
2) Add a link to the person who awarded you.
3) Nominate at least 7 other blogs.
4) Add links to those blogs on yours.
5) Leave a message for your nominees on their blogs.

We've had less and less time to read all the wonderful blogs out there but these are a few we still read almost every day and thus will nominate:

Chica and Pumuckl
Gandalf and Grayson
Kellie the Orange Cat
Kitty Limericks
Gizmo
Momo
Parker

Monday, September 29, 2008

Sunday Sun

Thompson and I took an abbreviated Sunday afternoon nap together. I got up to go play softball with my nephews and nieces. Thompson is the best cat to take a nap with: he lies on the side of his missing leg so he can lay his head right on my chest unimpeded. It's difficult waking him up because it is so nice when we nap together...

Sunday, September 28, 2008

Our Snoopervisor

The basement work is almost done. All that is left is to install the doors and the doorknobs on the doors. I still haven't let the boyz down there to look because of the remaining power tools that have to be put away. Diego-san is absolutely dying to see what has been going on downstairs. He hangs by the upstairs door and howls and roars. He just HAS to see what all the fuss has been about...

Saturday, September 27, 2008

The Dare Update

We finally have been able to use the wheat based litter I bought for the boyz. It seems to clump even better than the clay based litter we used before. I don't think, however, that it absorbs the smell as well. Either that or the boyz's output has been extra stinky the past few days. It could also be that I notice the smell from the litter boxes more because they are usually located in the basement but are now upstairs until the basement remodel is all done...

Friday, September 26, 2008

Pitter Patter

My Get Fuzzy daily calendar had a feline fun fact today: the average 15 year old cat has slept 10 years of his/her life. I can totally buy that.

When I got home the contractor who has been working off and on to finish off my basement was still working. He told me that throughout the day he heard a couple of kitties pitter pattering across the floor above, apparently chasing one another. It was interesting to hear the guyzos don't sleep away all their day when I'm not home...

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Our Economist

I played lousy softball for the third week in a row. I can't hit anything but feeble grounders. We tied 14-14 as we ran out of time. Then I came home to watch President Bush's speech on the economy. Theo reassured me that all you need is a little sunlight and everything seems a little bit better...

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Autumn is Here

Time to practice some snuggling together to preserve body heat in this cold cold house.

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Delayed Demand

Diego's latest thing is he'll see me closing a window and he'll immediately jump up to look out that window and howl at me because that is the one window in the house (according to him) that should be open right at that instance. Never mind the window has been open all day long and Diego hadn't shown any interest in sitting in it. My gumption and thinking that the window should be closed at the very moment his schedule had him slotted to sit in that window... He makes it loudly and clearly known that I simply do not understand the window schedule in this house.

Monday, September 22, 2008

Awarded

Thank you lil Gizmo for an award... I'm gonna have to build the boyz a virtual shelf to hold all their awards.

Sunday, September 21, 2008

Be Warned, Theo



I wish I could teach Diego to do this next time Theo is relentlessly pestering him. It might make things a little more peaceful in the future (not that I advocate violence as a solution or deterrent).

Actually the closest we got to this video was an early on day for Thompson, Diego-san, and me. Thompson and Diego were staring each other down when Diego suddenly swatted Thompson's lone front leg out from under him giving Diego ample opportunity to hop on top and attack... It was a smart strategic maneuver albeit a bit mean and opportunistic.

Saturday, September 20, 2008

Diego-san Honored

Diamond was kind enough to give Diego-san this award:



I'm almost afraid to tell Diego however because his ego is large enough as it is. But I must admit my buddy is a pretty darn cool cat.

Diego was also featured on the House Panthers site.

Friday, September 19, 2008

The Boyz's Friends

Kellie the orange cat, our original reader, gave us this nice award:



Thank you Kellie.

The rules for accepting the award are as follows: Give this award to five friends (and only 5) who are dedicated followers of your blog - one has to be a new blogger in a different part of the world. Link back to whoever gave you this award.

We will award this award to:

1) Lil Gizmo
2) Parker
3) Momo
4) Chica and Pumuckl
5) Karen Jo at Kitty Limericks.

Congrats y'all.

Nekorific

Went and saw Neko Case play at First Ave. She has the kind of voice that can send shivers up your spine even in a sweltering hot Minneapolis night club.

I've seen her twice now and both shows she did a nice cover of Bob Dylan's "Buckets of Rain," a song that contains one of my favorite Dylan passages of all time: "Life is sad, life is a bust. All you can do, is do what you must. You do what you must do, and you do it well. I do it for you, honey baby can't you tell?"

Neko said earlier in the day she visited a local humane society shelter that was conducting a pet adoption. She dedicated most of her songs to individual cats and dogs she had seen that needed good homes.

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Disapproving Look #961

The evening was spent playing softball (we won 18-15 no thanks to my feeble efforts) and meeting a friend (to say goodbye) at Mystic Lake Casino. Thompson scolded me when I finally got home because I'm much too old to be staying out when it is a work night.

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Urp

I went to work at 7 in the morning and didn't get back home until 11:30 at night. The boyz were pretty wound up when i finally got home. I fed them two meals worth of food and went up to go to bed.

Theo came up a short time later and proceeded to urp up his meal(s). He did this, of course, all over the carpet. When I tried to move him into the bathroom and he ran downstairs and proceeded to urp up the rest of his meal all over the carpeted stairs. So I got to spend the next 20 minutes cleaning up cat urp.

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Diego-san Sez

"If you would only show me how to use this fancy litter box I'd be happy to give it a try."

Monday, September 15, 2008

The Dare

The boyz and I took up Mr. Chen's winning dare as posted by our friends over at the Cat Realm.

"Mr. Chen dares you all to come up with one creative, fun, useful way to save the environment and put a picture of yourself doing it on your blog!"

After much thought the boyz and I decided to switch to an all natural litter called "Swheat Scoop." According to the manufacturer: "Each year, over 2 million tons of cat litter ends up in municipal solid waste landfills (Judd Alexander, In Defense of Garbage, Praeger 1993). Most of that litter, an estimated 100,000 truckloads per year, is made from clay that is mined and doesn’t biodegrade because it’s never reabsorbed by the earth. That’s why the time is right to consider the merits of a product like Swheat Scoop Natural Wheat Litter."

I'm interested to see how the boyz take to their green effort.

In other news we'd like to thank Parker for giving us a nice award. Thank you Parker.



Sunday, September 14, 2008

So Long Pixie

A Day Late

Laundry day was postponed a day because I had to go to work. But the boyz were more than willing to help out by making sure the clothes hamper was in good working order.

Saturday, September 13, 2008

September Saturday

Sleep, sun, eat, drink, and be merry. Sounds like a full day to me.

Friday, September 12, 2008

Scooter Route

One morning as I was riding my scooter to work, I looked up and noticed a name of a street that I hadn't noticed before. I just had to stop and take a picture for the boyz new friend, Lil Gizmo...

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Late Show Here We Come

Diego-san and I have developed a trick together. When my stomach growls/gurgles, it sounds just like Diego's roar/unhappy meow. I discovered this as we were lying on the couch and I honestly couldn't tell which one of us the sound was coming from.

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Up and Down Boy

Theo himself doesn't even know it but his least favorite inventions of all time likely would be the elevator and the escalator (not that he has seen either one). Other than meal times there is nothing he enjoys better than racing me up and down the stairway. Of course most of our races aren't really races since it's rare that I'll actually try to beat him, but Theo doesn't seem to mind. He takes great pleasure in zooming up and down the stairs as if he is Michael Phelps and the stairs are his pool.

Tuesday, September 09, 2008

Tuneless Tuesday

One boy looks on in stunned disbelief while the other looks like he has seen it all many times before...

Monday, September 08, 2008

That's Amore

Diego-san was named after the Mexican painter Diego Rivera. But I think my Diego has some Italian blood in him.

Whenever I'm eating Italian food he just assumes he's going to get a portion even though I've never treated him to spaghetti, lasagna, or rigatoni. I think he just loves the smell of tomato sauce. Last night I was frying some zucchini in garlic and he was pacing all over the kitchen trying his best to quench his hunger by breathing in the fumes.

Sunday, September 07, 2008

Happy Birthday Thompson

Today is Thompson's designated birthday. He turns six. And he gets a pat on the noggin.

Saturday, September 06, 2008

Friday, September 05, 2008

Not a Happy Kitty

Diego-san and I had a little spat yesterday. I'm having a contractor finish off my basement. Last summer the contractor framed and sheetrocked the basement and this year he's putting in the doors, carpet, and painting.

True to his nature Diego wants to supervise the project. I let him downstairs last week after the basement had been primed. He proceeded to throw up not once, but twice, presumably from the paint fumes. So yesterday after more work had been done I got home and found that my contractor hadn't latched the door shut and Diego had managed to work the door open. He was down there walking between all the powertools and breathing in all the saw dust. The paint was still wet so I yelled at him to go upstairs.

He of course wanted none of that so he kept running around the basement until I was finally able to shoo him upstairs. The rest of the night he tried reopening the door, and being unsuccessful, howled in protest. Since all this was going on around dinner time, he missed a meal and I refused to serve him. The rest of the evening the two of us avoided each other.

We did make up at bedtime however as he came up for his nightly combing and snuggled with me afterward.

Thursday, September 04, 2008

Our Own Convention

I asked the boyz if they had been properly 'vetted.' They all responded by telling me I should call Dr. Timmerman and have her send over their vaccination records.

Wednesday, September 03, 2008

Katie Likes Us

Katie Couric ended her newscast last night by paraphrasing a line from the old Mary Tyler Moore Show. She said, "Twin Cities, you've got spunk. And we like spunk."

Speaking of spunk, Theo was more wound up than usual when I got home. He was running back and forth and I surprised him by tapping him on the back causing him to jump two feet straight in the air. He's my lil spunky.

Tuesday, September 02, 2008

Living the Holiday

The boyz and I honored Labor Day by not doing anything that could be misconstrued as actual labor.

Monday, September 01, 2008

Flexibility

Yesterday didn't go at all like I had planned. I was supposed to meet my friend A- and her husband for dim sum. A- called and said she wasn't feeling well. Then my friend M- called and asked if I wanted to meet her and her parents at the State Fair. I wasn't planning on going to the fair but thought I would be social so I agreed.

The state fairgrounds are about a mile from my house so for the past week and a half the boyz and I have had to put up with a lot of heavy traffic (both pedestrian and vehicular) around our house. For the boyz the worst part about the fair is around 10:30 at night when they shoot off fireworks.

I don't make it to the fair very often because in my entire life, I don't think I've ever really had a great experience there. It's lots of people, fried food on a stick, and seeing the same exhibits year after year. My favorite part usually is visiting the animal barns and yesterday was no exception. I think I bonded with a cow.