Water solution?

I think (I hope!) I've helped the little water-play solution be more Grace-friendly! She did NOT take to jumping into the bathtub every time she wanted to eat or have a drink of water. The first photo below shows our prior set-up. Those are just thick placemats under each bowl, but the one under the water bowl was our problem. Everything was getting soaked -- the placemats, the floor, etc. So...

... I took a still-usable (damaged a bit by you-can-guess-who!) vinyl tablecloth and put it under the water dish. Now we'll see if this works.

Water, water everywhere!

I haven't been able to capture any photos of Audace and Ruse's latest trick yet, but they are really trying my patience! They have both done this over the past couple of weeks; here's an example of the latest:

Today, I was working on getting everything ready to go to the IRS (no, I'm not getting a refund!), so I had the door to the office closed -- a big no-no in their opinion, of course. When I did leave the room (and closed the door after me), I went out to the kitchen to get some water and some aspirin -- and Audace came racing after me and literally hit the surface of the water in the recently filled water dish. The little rat! There was water everywhere -- all over the floor, in the dry food, on the wall and pantry door.

So I'll see if this works. I've moved their water and food into the hall bathroom -- IN THE TUB -- and I'll see if they decide to repeat their antics. I'd put just the water dish up in the sink, but that's not fair to Grace. She's not one of the culprits.

Now we'll see ...

Animal Rescue's Website

I don't know what's up with www.theanimalrescuesite.com and their graphics, which haven't been coming up lately. Thankfully, the button to click to contribute still works even though the darling pix aren't there. I have some of them saved. I wonder if TARS has lost them from their archives?

Audace and Ruse's Thursday Thirteen

1. We like to learn how to do new things, such as opening closed doors with those lovely lever-handles.
2. We like to chase our mommy around the house … helps her work on her girlish figure, you know.
3. We like to yowl loud and long about 6 am, especially when we know the alarm is set for our bean to get up at 6:30.
4. We like to have our stinky goodness out of cans first thing in the morning; the dry stinky goodness can wait until later.

5. We like to hunt and chase bugs, even if they’re on the other side of that hard, see-through stuff our bean calls “glass.”
6. We like to “help” our young bean [Austen] when he comes over to scoop our poop. We help by using the litter boxes while he’s scooping!
7. We like to jump into the tub right after our bean has been in there getting all wet; we especially like to make sure we leave our footprints so she never forgets us.

8. We like to start playing chase all around the house, especially just as our bean is starting to turn all the lights off at night.
9. We like our mommy to wash our faces. If she continues to do so, we never have to learn how, right?
10. We like to take naps way up high, on top of the kitchen cupboards, although Audace is getting a little too big to make it to the far end anymore.

11. We like to scratch and rub all over the toys after our young bean [Austen] has put new catnip all over them; the big climbing toy is the BEST!
12. We like to play in the garage and roll all over the leaves that get in there; we have destroyed the wire thingy [antenna for garage door opener], though, so we’ve been banished from the garage.
13. We like to sleep and nap and snooze … especially all together … near our mommy.

Washday Wednesday

Here's another little movie of Grace washing Audace's face -- still, Ruse tries to make himself scarce!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYXvx9DoimQ

Enjoy!

Our Kitty Movie Monday endeavor

Our movie for Kitty Movie Monday has been posted: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_I_OTM7tbM

Cats! They're just too funny! =)

Whatever Sunday!

I was trying to get photos of Audace's and Ruse's spots, few as they are. Audace has a couple on his little face, one on either side of his nose.


Ruse has spots on his legs, especially the back side of his front legs. You can sorta see them here.

And Grace -- well she's just covered in spots and stripes! Beautiful girl!! And here's that look again, looking down on her sons, wondering WHAT in the world they're doing with those toys down there!

Hooray for Kat's Cat of the Day!

What a wonderful event to celebrate! Thanks to Kat's Cat of the Day for all the beautiful kitties we've seen over this past year ... including Grace & Company's appearances, too!

Two frootbats, for sure!

Ruse and Audace were like whirling dervishes the other day, and here are a few photos of their weird and wild antics.

Ruse scampered up to the top of the kitchen cupboards and hung out repeatedly to try to inspect the window covering; then he settled down for a bit of a nap up there.

At the same time, Audace was on top of the fridge checking out all the pictures and magnets holding that important and interesting information there.



Grace, of course, just looked calmly on, from her perch on the kitchen island. She just watches and waits for them to come down when they suddenly go off on tears like this! What was a bit unusual was that they were BOTH ripping and roaring around at the same time.

Don't forget to go and check out all the fun stuff at The Cat Blogosphere and the Friday Ark today!

They take over!

The other night, I was awakened about midnight -- needed to take some aspirin for my leg cramps -- and I returned to find this little scene. They had taken over my bed -- there was no room for me!!

Favorite things

Here are some favorite things:

1. Audace's favorite sleeping position -- right above where I sit when watching TV or taking a mid-afternoon nap!

2. Grace's favorite place to keep an eye on everything that's going on. She can see the living room, dining room, entry, and family room from here -- as well as anyone coming into the family room from the hall or the kitchen. Perfect for the keep-control-mommy in her!

3. Ruse's favorite place to watch his mom when she's atop the climbing toy, keeping an eye on everything ...

4. Grace's favorite look to give to either Ruse or Audace when they try to spy on her from below!!

Cats of the Day

Ohhh, superb! Now all three of my little jewels have been Cat of the Day!

Here are Grace's, Audace's, and Ruse's appearances!!

Grace, last September

Audace, in February

Ruse, today

Such little treasures in my life!

Audace's adventures

Audace had a wonderful visit at the Linehan house again yesterday, including LOTS of time spent outdoors. As you can see in the photos, he checked out the patio -- including all the planter pots, bugs, and spiders he could find -- and then he spent a great deal of time inspecting all that fun stuff in the garage! What a day!!





And here are links to some little videos about Audace's day of visiting:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDaZ3MQVQD4
and
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-xlN-ZwDtg
and
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybT_SNngbVw

Some day, maybe Ruse will learn to enjoy all the new things to explore in the Linehan house and yard, too!

And Ruse ...

Ruse just LOVES to look out a window. He doesn't care what window; he just loves them all, especially if his mommy is right there, too. He makes no move to sneak outside when I open a door as Audace does.

Then and now

Frequently, I go back into the archives of this blog -- when Deb, ML, and all were trying to find forever homes for Grace and brood. The first one with photos is amazing.

There's Grace, all skinny and calm. In the first photo, she has baby Audace zonked out in her arms, so to speak! He still likes to sleep like that -- upside down -- unless it's cold, and he's all cuddled up with his mom or brother (or both!).

The second one is of Grace by herself -- her sweet little face, just staring off into the distance, as if to say, "This too shall pass." She is still like that: very calm, very patient, very watchful. The post also describes her as weighing 6.5# and having a voracious appetite -- well, guess what! She doesn't weigh 6.5# anymore, and fortunately she doesn't have a voracious appetite anymore either. She will always step back if the boys want to eat first!! What a good mom!

The third photo is wonderful. There's Brutus by her back legs, not going to let anyone get to the food first, if he can help it, I'm sure! And there's Audace, separate from the others (at the bottom center of the photo) -- he still likes to be off by himself, unless it's cold, of course. And there are Marigold and Ruse (I can't tell which is which, frankly) in their mommy's arms. I'm not sure about Marigold, but I know Ruse likes to be close to someone -- his mom or his bro or me (as a last resort, usually!).

Their little personalities sure do come through early, don't they? How wonderful and amazing!

Audace likes the spotlight

He poses and poses! What a beautiful ... 'scuse me ... handsome boy! He's now bigger than his mommy. Both he and Ruse have tails that are at least 2" longer than Grace's. I wonder if that's an indication of eventual full-grown size -- like puppies and their feet!!

Trying to keep warm

We've had some very COLD nights lately (cold for here, that is), and Grace knows exactly what to do: get those boys to cuddle! In these pictures, all three were crammed ... er, cuddling ... on a fleece jacket of mine. They certainly did stay warm!

No Movie Monday this week!

There have been a few times this past week when one or two or all three kitties were engaged in some fun stuff, but by the time I got my camera out and going, they were off to snooze or something. This morning, for instance, Ruse and Audace were playing chase in the laundry pile (sheets and towels). I was laughing and laughing ... and then they were off to check out the windows!

I've been worried about Deb Taylor. Her blog doesn't come up when I click on the link, either from my Favorites list or from another website. I checked CatBlogosphere and Pet Prayer & Praise -- found Deb's name among the "recovering beans" but still the link doesn't work. I sure hope she's recovering from whatever the problem is and that she's back in the pink ASAP.

UPDATE (3/6/07): I have heard from others that Deb is fine, but is working a lot. She took her blog down, and will put it back up (or start a new one?) when she has time to do it justice. I miss seeing all those lovely photos of those lovely kitties and their beautiful new house. And their version of Deck the Halls was a real scream! Hurry back, Taylor CatSSSSS!

Fun in the office

Here are Ruse and Audace, "helping" in my messy office. I've been doing taxes, and there are papers everywhere -- just what they like! The noises are marvelous, and there are boxes and bags to hide in and behind. Kitten-cats' dream come true!

Cats cause trouble

Boy, these guys can sure cause trouble! I've been letting them play in the garage since I don't let them outdoors. They can smell the car's tires, walk all over it, slide down the windshield, and then explore the rest of whatever's out there. With my Camry in the garage -- no problems. However, Anne and I have switched cars for child-chauffeuring reasons, and when I park the Windstar in my garage, it's much taller, of course. Oh, all three cats loved that one!

First problem was when one of them batted at the non-functioning light in the center of the garage ceiling ... and broke it. There were large and small pieces of glass everywhere, of course, and I'm still cleaning it up. Then I discovered that my garage door opener's remote worked only about ten feet right in front of the garage door. As you can see in the photos above and below, at least one of my little jewels has been chewing on the antenna -- it used to be about 10" long, and had a decent range. Now it's about 2" long and has almost no range at all!

Little rats! Now, I let them play in the garage only when there's no car in there. Audace has a terrible entitlement problem -- he seems to believe he's entitled to play out there every single time I come home from anywhere!