Well used, for sure!

Remember back in September when we first got this wonderful toy (scratcher, lounge chair, whatever you want to call it!)? Oh, that beautiful S-curve! Ruse and Audace and Grace admired it and loved it ...





... and Audace loved it so much he broke it! Well, it's not really broken, I guess. Just bent! Almost flattened at one end!!


But they still all love it, poor thing!

Getting ready for guests!

We're all getting our house ready for guests. My son, daughter-in-law, and granddaughter will be visiting us for the Thanksgiving holidays. This means, however, that Audace and Ruse have to give up "their" room so that Simone has a place to sleep. Grace is trying to help Ruse get used to snoozing elsewhere, as you can see in the photos below! (Audace has already staked out his domain in my room - a nice comfy reading chair with a blankee on it to snuggle up in.)

Easy on Sunday!

Grace and Audace were lounging around near each other, for a change. Usually, Grace is on the couch and Audace is in another room for his long afternoon nap by now (12:30 pm Central time!). So this was a surprise for me.



But wait! Where's Ruse? He's usually snoozing deeply by now, too, but near me or Grace somewhere. Nope -- HE'S the one who's in the other room, almost snoring!


Always unpredictable, these li'l darlin's!!

For Auntie Deb

All of us here are purring and praying for Auntie Deb -- that the surgery on Tuesday goes well, that there isn't too much pain, and that her recovery is not only fast but "gets the job done." She's been in pain from this problem for too long now, and we will be purring and praying that this fixes the problem.

We love you, Auntie Deb.

After Ike

MomMarilynn has posted some neighborhood photos of the past week -- the first week after Ike. We all know how fortunate we are -- no damage, water's fine, power finally restored after 7½ days. There are millions in the Houston area who are nowhere near recovery. And please don't forget about the pets affected by Hurricane Ike.

Stay safe out there, y'all!

We are OK!

We have no new pictures or anything yet, but we just wanted to post to say we're all OK. The hurricane was noisy and wet and frightening, but we got through it and are doing OK so far. We haven't had electricity since about 3 am last Saturday morning, but our water supply is good. We go to bed earlier than normal -- don't want to waste those D cell batteries that are so hard to find right now!

Grandbeans are beyond bored! They have a few homework assignments from Thursday last week, but of course have made little progress. They are finding out what life without TV and video games is like! They're doing lots of reading, thank heaven.

We're basically just sitting around waiting for electricity to be restored, which we learned today won't happen until Monday or later next week ... drat! But everyone's safe and well fed, and those are most important!

PS -- The only reason this is being posted is because of the grandbeans' generous neighbor who has run a line from his generator to their house. Yay for good neighbors!

Go away, Ike!

We agree with KC -- we DON'T like this particular Ike, and we just hope and pray that everyone around this area will be safe. See you on the "other side."

A little humor -- very little humor!

Audace's own spot!

I've been adding a few more toys and scratchers to our collection, mostly to see what Audace might be interested in, something that would keep him out of Grace's way! Well, I found this wonderful S-shaped, carpeted creation with a sisal scratching square on it at Petco. It's amazing.

Grace had to check it out, of course, but since then she has had little to do with it.

Then Ruse had to check it out, and he likes it ... sorta! He really prefers the couch or the floor -- within five feet of anywhere I am in the house!

Audace, however, just LOVES it! He sits in it; he lies down on it; he scratches all over it! We have a winner - something that Audace prizes more than his mommy's special spot on the couch top!

Figuring it out!

Audace and Grace are still figuring it out -- whose territory is the 360-degree-view end of the top of the couch, anyway? They're battling it out -- end to end! (Ruse still stays out of the way!) Grace finally prevailed, but it took her a day or so to win this battle!

"Not the Mama" Monday!

Morgen (Mo) - aka "Not the Mama" - has done so much for kitties and their humans, and we want to recognize him for all that he's done - rescuing strays, fostering, fundraising, donating, working so very hard with the CatBlogosphere, helping his local rescue organizations, and being the kind-hearted and wonderful guy that he is.

Audacious Audace!

When I first noticed this little scene, I thought, "How nice! They're being all cuddly." But then I noticed what was REALLY going on -- Audace had audaciously taken over Grace's spot on the top of the couch -- the spot at the end, from which she can see everything that's going on!

What a bold boy, and she let him know about it, too!

Ruse, smart boy, was staying out of the way!

Another new toy for the crew!

Here's a new rocking/scratching toy I found at Walmart for the crew. Audace took immediate control, and Grace has had her turns, too, but Ruse doesn't care for it much. He prefers the couch!

Vacation

Grace, Audace, and Ruse were not happy with me for a while. I had the audacity to take my grandbeans on a trip to visit their great-grandparents and great-uncle, and we were gone for six days. A wonderful young man who lives nearby - named James - made sure that no kitty in this household went hungry or had a dirty litterbox. He even expected to play with them and their twine toys and such.

However ... time after time, when James came to our house, all three kitties were in hiding. My grandbeans' mom came over on Saturday and managed to find Grace and Audace, and they greeted James after that, but Ruse stayed in hiding the entire time.

Once I returned home, they all came out to see what was happening -- all that luggage, you know, with those INTERESTING smells all over the place! They gave me their backs for a while, but by the next morning they had forgiven me. Or maybe they just got hungry, I'm not sure. Anyway, we're pretty much back to normal now ... whatever normal is around here!

Ruse ... practicing being cute!

Ruse loves to practice being cute - especially when Austen has moved all the chairs when the floors are being mopped. Same ol' chairs, different placement = FUN!





Grandbean Parker took these photos. He's getting good at this!

How we entertain ourselves ... and keep cool!

Below are some of the ways that Grace, Audace, and Ruse have been entertaining themselves and keeping cool ... well, Grace and Audace, anyway. Ruse seems to be in the same spots in the same pose every time the camera comes out!

Grace and Audace are stalking our back door frog ... he shows up every night to eat bugs, and Grace and Audace show up every night to stalk him!


Ruse likes to be thought of as king of the hill ... or couch ... whichever!

And Audace likes to play it cool, not that these cats really ever know what the real temperature is outside!

Fridge meme!

We were tagged for this meme by The Taylor CatSSSSS. Fun!

The fridge in our house is black to match the other appliances that the builder put in, and it has a wonderful finish so that no fingerprints show up! However, as you can see below, it's so covered up by other stuff, there's no chance beans or grandbeans will ever get fingerprints on this!

The whole fridge-front. (There's stuff on the sides, too, believe it or not!


The CatBlogsphere calendar with Grace, Audace, and Ruse outlined with highlighter ink!


Lots and lots of pictures of beans and grandbeans -- and a very special picture of our beloved Indy in the center.


Pictures of me with grandbeans - and one of my folks and grandbean Austen three years ago, just before he helped me move to Texas.


More pictures of beans and grandbeans!


The band's schedule for this coming school year. It's the main way to keep track of what my chauffeuring duties will be ... until he gets his driver's license, that is.


And one to make sure it's clear how important this fridge is -- 1) it's right next to the kitchen island which has been taken over by Grace, Audace, and Ruse for eating, drinking, lounging, and playing with the little water fountain, and 2) it's the source of ice cubes for their drinking water!

We'll tag the following wonderful kitteh-families for what's on their cold box (or fridge):

Artsy Catsy

The Hotties

Eric and Flynn

China Cat

Have fun, everyone!

Just a note...

We know we haven't been online much lately. Our bean has taken a few photos recently, but there has been precious little time to post, now that grandbeans are out of school for the summer. She spends a WHOLE lot of time with them, and we really miss her. They'll all go back to school one of these days, though, and then we'll have her back for the daytimes as well as the evenings.

for Stormie

Stormie is being helped to The Bridge today. All of us are heartbroken, but the fierce fight Stormie put up against cancer has been awesome and amazing.

Our bean has lost several precious kitties over time, three to particularly heart-breaking illnesses. Here is a poem that was sent to her when she lost Pluto in November, 2003, and which comforted her again in March, 2006, when Indy suddenly went to The Bridge:

"Grieve not,
nor speak of me with tears,
but laugh and talk of me
as if I were beside you ...
I loved you so -
'twas Heaven here with you."

– by Ilsa Paschal Richardson

We love you, Stormie, and we'll be praying and purring for your peaceful, painless trip to The Bridge. Please find Indy, Pluto, Stinky, and Friday for our bean and say "hello" to them for her. She still misses them all.

Our Gotcha Day!

We recently celebrated the second blogversary of Grace & Company, and today we celebrate Grace & Company's second Gotcha Day anniversary. Two years ago today was an exciting day -- when Deb and her daughters drove Grace, Audace, and Ruse to my house ... and we surprised Austen with the baby cats! What a marvelous day!!





And here's a fun video of the "boys" playing with their twine toys and of Grace stalking a frog on our back door window!