Tummy Tuesday for Ruse

This is one of the few times I've seen Ruse sleep on his back with curled hind feet in the air. Audace does this all the time, but not Ruse! Cutie!!

Formerly feral ... Grace!

I guess you could say that Grace is a formerly feral cat, but she's turned into a wonderful companion who LOVES to snooze in the sunshine on the couch in the afternoons!

Two movies -- tissue and toys

Here are two recent movies of these little crazies playing with tissue paper and other toys.

Carnival of the Cats, #207

Welcome to the 207th Carnival of the Cats! Grace and Audace and Ruse have been lazing around all week, saving up their strength so they could put this together for everyone’s weekend pleasure.

Lots of purrayers are needed at Blog d’Ellison for Matata. Our friend Cabernet came through something very similar a few years ago, so we know Matata can, too. Be sure to stop by and give your purrrrrrrs and purrayers for Matata.

Boni at House of the (Mostly) Black Cats reminds us about the Squillions contest and other links to check out. Good reminders, Boni. Thanks!

All the crew at Artsy Catsy is hard at work making wonderful jewelry, bookmarks, and other lovely items – a fundraiser for CatBlogosphere and needed support for deserving causes.

George Online Cat answers all your burning questions; in this particular case, he’s letting you know how to handle visiting beans. Good insight here! Better than some of those “trick-cyclists” around!

Grace spends lots of time relaxing in front of (and guarding) the water dish - especially if there are ice cubes in it!

Ted is posing magnificently over at The Poor Mouth. We think he’s beautiful and would like to learn how to look so regal.

Guest cats, Cosmo and Vegas, make an appearance on Catymology. These two have a wonderful job that includes lots of hunting. Anyone need a pith helmet yet?

A place called Wildcat Sanctuary in Minnesota does a wonderful job of helping our kitty-kinsmen make it nicely through the winters - what a great idea these snowmen are! Thanks to Catymology for the photo and the link.

Jaxsun and Francesca over at Howling Hill are dealing with snow – LOTS OF SNOW! And they’re tired of it – even if the photos are gorgeous! Do you think the six weeks in Punxsutawney Phil’s latest prediction are about up?

Parker is showing us how silly he can be – and he is also watching LOTS OF SNOW outside Perfectly Parker’s abode.

The Catboys at Caturday are much more interested in indoor pursuits, such as grooming and purring. Who can blame them with the outdoors so gloomy?

At Pet’s Garden Blog, though, SonnyBob is celebrating SUNSHINE! Woo-hoo!

Nardo is hanging out in Piper's chair. We wonder if he's reminiscing ... or if he's practicing being cute so he'll get more pets and snuggles.

Beezer Song's Beezer is showing us how to take proper advantage of springtime - spring is about to spring, after all! We should all get ready, and then report on the fruits of our labors!

Audace relaxes in front of his toys - and he makes sure Grace and Ruse know that they ARE his toys! Funny boy!!

Over at JB’s Small World, we hear all about PooPoo’s visit to that place “with all those other animals” – good or bad results? We’ll let you see for yourselves. What a good storyteller! And then JB tells of some bad news – she feels abandoned. Purrs to you, JB. We love you.

K T Cat posed for a superb photo at The Scratching Post – sitting on a fence. No, not sitting on the fence, as in undecided. Just being beautiful on top of a fence!

Henry at Texas Oasis was getting ready for Leap Day – do you think he proposed to anyone??

Leap Day was also celebrated at StrangeRanger – great leaps, you guys! Are you joining a ballet company any time soon?

Tuxie Tuesday was celebrated by Chance – and look at those wonderful lazer eyes. How hypnotizing!

Rahel at Elms in the Yard continues to take marvelous photos of interesting kitties. Here’s a stripey kitty who posed nicely for her.

Chey is getting ready for her BIRTHDAY PARTY!! What a wonderful photo-collage for her. We love it! And did you get lots of great gifts, too?

It was a very successful day at composite drawings: Ti Grr managed to take down the Great Dread Mauge! Were there any treats in those pockets?

Eric and Flynn are having a wonderful Sunday lie-in on their special furs. Be sure to take a look to see how special their sleeping furs are.

Ruse is looking straight at me, for a change, and has a wonderful portrait without lazer eyes! Regal fella!

Beautiful little Faith has found her furrever home – right back where she started with Missy and KC! Ooooo, what a scary li’l kitty she is – all bitey and fighty!! (Yeah, right!) And guess what! She must have taught her former housemates well, too: The boys are back!

The very clever meeyauw gives us Lectionary Readings for the Fourth Sunday in Lent from the LOL Cat Bible. What a wonderful read! We were howling!!

At A Byootaful Life, the zippy Puddy finally finds a nice, cozy resting spot. But we want to know what’s wrong with playtime at 3 am? Huh?

Gattina at My Cats and Funny Stories is showing us how to properly conduct a thorough cleaning day. Great slideshow, Gattina!


Over at sisu, we can see the absolutely beautiful Snow Lion Tiny, who seems to be trying to tune out all the politico-babble we’re all bombarded with these days! We agree – It’s the technologies …

Luna is showing off her perfectly groomed self in juxtaposition with all the new electronics at catsynth. How marvelously smooth and regal Luna is, don’t you agree?

During the photo hunt, Samantha found a couple of pictures or herself and Tigger from last July. Fun, fun, fun at Life From A Cat’s Perspective!

And from Chey’s Place (and Gemini’s, too), here’s Chey on a photo hunt, too, and - best of all! - it’s Chey’s birthday!!

Cubby, at This That & The Other Thing, is learning to trust his new family. He plays just fine with the other cats in the family, but is only slowly learning to bond with his beans.

Izzy over at ilinfidel is showing off on Tummy Tuesday #80! Wow! That’s a lot of tummy-shots!! And here’s a stand-off at Mind of Mog: Meowza is making sure that Izzy understands exactly WHO is hosting this weekend’s Weekend Cat Blogging!

Nikita at Musings of a Mad Macedonian tells us all how she feels about moving around with her humans – and all the things that are so terrific about their current home. Great alliteration there, Nikita. Love it!

That’s it for now. If there are any late entries, please feel free to send them in, and we’ll add them this evening.

The CatBlogosphere is looking for hosts for future Carnivals. If you’ve a mind to show your creativity and contribute your talents, be sure to sign up here.

Join in on the fun next Sunday evening, March 9, when Carnival of the Cats #208 will be presented by Rocky at Artsy Catsy! And to find out about all the other catblogging events and contests and activities, be sure to go to The CatBlogosphere.

Ruse sez...

We're all busy helping our bean put up tomorrow evening's Carnival of the Cats #207. We hope you all will join us! And if you haven't submitted your entry yet, click here to send it to us.

All is fine, thank heaven!

All seems to be fine after these guys' confrontation with the neighborhood "big boy" named Henry Jack. After I saw all those white and orange tufts of fur outside, I was concerned, and I've kept running my hands over both Audace and Ruse to make sure there are no injuries that I couldn't find right away.

No problems, though - no lumps or bumps or weird behavior indicating illness or infection. All is fine!



All these photos were taken by Parker - maybe we have a budding photo-grapher in our midst!

Wordless Wednesday 6

Uh-oh!

When I left today to go to church, I left the window of the office (computer room) open. We had icky, sticky, stormy weather yesterday and last night, so I thought Grace & Company would like to sniff the clean outdoor air. They love it when that window is open.

Well, I forgot to close it before I left ... which I've done before, but there haven't been any mishaps. Today, however, when I got home, the window was still open about 10 inches, and the screen was off. My heart was pounding! So I ran indoors and started counting cats; then I ran into the office and shut the window. All three are here, with no extra neighborhood cats in the house! All three seem fine, except that they're now sticking to me like glue! Anne says I need catcams to know what they do in here whenever I'm gone.

The photos below show the screen before I put it back on, plus several pix of the tufts of fur that are out there. Now to go and inspect cats for any possible injuries -- I think it'll be Audace, if anyone.

UPDATE: I've run my hands over all three, and there don't seem to be any injuries -- but then I know they don't always show up right away. I'll keep checking. I think, though, that they were more mentally shaken than anything -- they're so spoiled with this whole house (and no outdoors) to romp around in!

Lazy days

Here are a couple of photos showing what Grace and Audace like to do on lazy afternoons -- almost nothing! Ruse, however, can't keep still. As soon as I approach with a camera -- zip! -- he's off and running!
Notice Audace's tongue? He must be thinking of food!
Grace is such a joy -- loving and graceful. Deb did such a great job naming her!

Another new toy!

Midge sent us a "Thing in a Bag," and Grace and her boys didn't quite know what to make of it at first. Now they do, though. Enjoy the photos and little movies, too.

Ahhhhh, some sun!

Grace has the right idea on the few days we've had sun around here lately! She LOVES snoozin' in the sun through the back door!

C-O-L-D weather

In cold weather, it's very common for Audace and Ruse to cuddle up when they sleep, and when it's REALLY cold, Grace will often join them. Today, however, even though it's cold outside and hard to keep the house warm, they were near each other, but not cuddled up. In fact, Audace was practicing his favorite full-monty position!

An award! An award!!

Grace, Audace, and Ruse physically outgrew a couple of their climbing toys, and we offered them to anyone interested. Castor and Pollux were the first to respond, so we sent off one toy last week. They got it and apparently they love it! We're so happy -- we loved it, too, until we got too big! We're looking forward to photos on the Meezer Brothers' blog!

Castor and Pollux also gave us this award! How fun!!

Ruse and the toys!

Ruse was having a wonderful time last evening, getting into the mess Audace had made!

Grace: I was tagged!

I was tagged by Missy for 7 Weird Things about myself, so here they are:

1. I am completely unappreciated by two of my sons who live in the same house with me! Both of those boys can be very rude and rough-and-tumble. I like to play chase, but I don't like to wrestle – do they listen? No! Not even when I scream at them!

2. I stick to my bean like glue whenever she’s home. I know, I know. All the photos people see are of me on the couch or in other places, but – truth be told – I’m really within five feet of her almost all day … unless she leaves the house for whatever she does out there. =(

3. I love to eat. It doesn’t seem like it, especially in the photos on our blog, but I’ve become quite chubby – and I don’t care. I can still run fast and climb up the carpeted toy. That’s what matters!

4. I was the last one to learn to use the new pet door. I didn’t think it lent anything to my dignity, so I refused to go through it at first. I could see the boys having lots of fun once they finally figured it all out and could play and romp in the garage, so I decided to give it a try. It’s OK, but I really like being in the house best of all!

5. I found another kitty’s napping place. This is the one good thing about going out into the garage! My bean tells me it’s where Indy used to snooze when she wanted to spend time in the garage, but I don’t know who Indy is. I just like the comfort of the robe and comforter on top of a box hidden by other boxes. Everyone pretty much leaves me alone if they can’t see me!

6. I love to be combed, but not brushed. At first, our bean got a couple of different kitty brushes, but I don’t like the feeling. Then she got smart and bought a comb – and I LOVE it! I roll over so she can comb my tummy and legs, too!

7. I don’t like to travel in the car – anyplace! The carrier is cramped and the motion of the car makes me nervous. However, I’m not like those cry-baby sons of mine who howl and yowl on every trip. Fortunately, there aren’t too many trips!

The official rules of this meme: (1) Link to the cat that tagged you and post the rules on your blog; (2) share seven weird facts about yourself; (3) tag seven random cats at the end of your post (include links to their blogs); and (4) let each cat know they were tagged by leaving notification on their blog.

Here are my seven random picks: Tower Hill Mob, Scooby, Maddie, Sassy, Marigold, Daphne, and Kimo&Sabi. Now I'll go and notify every cat that they've been tagged. (I hope my seven choices can participate - or haven't participated too recently!)

Wordless Wednesday 5

Toes-y and snooze-y Tuesday

All snooze-y and snuggled down on a rainy day. Note the toes in the first and second pix!

Audace and the toys

I had to break down and vacuum and clean in this room -- which means I had to pick up all the scattered toys and paper and feathers. Of course, Audace doesn't like that, so he proceeded to start the mess again!

We now have a pet door through the laundry room door into the garage. All three LOVE to play in the garage, so some of the litter boxes were moved out there, too. They adore the extra freedom. Now to get a movie of one of them going out or coming in!

I have a couple of movies on the new camera, but now I have to figure out how to get them off the tiny DVD and onto the computer! It can't be too hard, right?

Beautiful Grace

Here's my gorgeous girl, just watching all the trouble Audace and Ruse can get into! She's so smart, staying out of the way!!















PS - We have a new digital movie camera in the house now, and it's taking time to learn how to use it well. Next job will be to learn how to transfer movies to the computer so they can be uploaded and shared! Fun, fun, fun!

Fun package!

Thanks to Ruis and the kitties at Kattenpraat's Catwalk for the package of goodies. Audace was ALL OVER IT, and pretty soon Ruse had to come and check it out, too. Grace was watching from her usual high perch!