Ruse's turn!

... and then it was Ruse's turn at the toys!!

Audace after breakfast!

After waking me up around 5:30 or before and after gobbling down breakfast, Audace usually feels VERY frisky!! This morning he was running from one window to another, hunting down Henry Jack or Zoe ... or maybe both! Then he turned his attention to the toys, and here he is!!

Then he returned to their placemat ... as if I'm going to feed him a second breakfast! Hah!!

Beautiful boy!!

We are all enormously grateful for our Anne's successful battle with cancer. We also pray for success and recovery and healing for all others who are battling this insidious disease, no matter what form it takes.

Please go here to find out how YOU can participate in this year's Livestrong Day! We Livestrong Today <~~Click here!

Lazy Sunday afternoon

These guys have mastered the art of napping their afternoons away!

Ruse hunts!

Usually, Ruse and Audace play together ~ hunting each other, chasing, pouncing! You know, all the normal sibling stuff! But a week or so ago, Ruse was going through all this hunting stuff by himself!

Uh-oh! Who is he hunting? Who's there??

Oh, my ... whoever it is should get ready for a surprise leap!

It was Grace! She wasn't fazed, though ~ just walking through the room to find her favorite pillow to knead!

What is that stuff outside, anyway?

Here are the "boys," watching the rain ~ Audace is looking in the direction of the front door and windows; Ruse is looking out the back windows. It's a sort of juxtaposition, I guess!

We're just so happy to get rain, we could all watch it all day long!!

Lolling about!

Audace and Ruse are now (almost 3 pm) stirring from their all-morning nap! My question is this: Why are they suddenly taking their morning naps here, not under a bed somewhere? I can't crochet when Audace is close by. It seems he can smell the yarn, and then he kicks into yarn-chasing gear!!

Here's the culprit in all his glory! 

Recently, they've also been very busy in the garage, and I couldn't figure out why ... until I started finding dead bugs and one dead lizard in the house! Yikes!! Well, at least the critters were dead. These guys haven't the foggiest clue how to hunt successfully!

We love Mommy ML!

We cannot imagine our lives as we know them if it hadn't been for Mommy ML.

Thank you, thank you, thank you ~ for all you do for cats and the CatBlogosphere.

Be safe, everyone! (UPDATED)

Our hearts and purrs and prayers go out for all those in the path of Hurricane Irene, including our own family (beans and furries) who live very close to the projected path in NY. Please be safe, everyone -- and get out of the way if you can.

UPDATE (6:40 am CDT, 8/28/2011): We're in contact with our family in Scarsdale, NY, and they seem to be to the west of the path of Irene's eye. We hope and pray this continues and they are all safe and secure.

Audace, master napper!

Audace usually disappears around 9 am each day and snoozes under a bed or somewhere else equally dim and hidden. This day, however, for some reason, he chose to stick around. He stayed about two or three feet away from me all morning! Made me chuckle!!

They think they're hiding!

Audace and Ruse seem to have perfected the art of disappearing during most days, especially in the mornings and early afternoons. In the first two photos, Audace's back feet are giving him away. He must think it's cool under that bed, though, because he's there just about every morning after 9 am!

In the two photos below, both Audace and Ruse are snoozin' under a chair and footrest in my room. They do love these nice, cave-like places!

Ruse in summer

Ruse is spending most of this summer lazing around on the couch, usually near where I am - or at least my laptop! He knows where to stay cool!!

Gotcha Day #5 - hooray!

June 6, 2006, was a very happy day in this house!
You can see the photos I took that day HERE! <~~click here!!

We have our up and down days, but thankfully there are far more UPs than DOWNs!!

These guys turned 5 years old on April 15 (my arbitrary pick for their birthdate!!), and Grace turned 6 on her (equally arbitrary) birthday on June 1. Aren't they all grown up and beautiful ... err, handsome??

Ruse

Audace

Momma Grace

My li'l beauties!!!
=)

Grace is 6!!

Happy birthday to our beautiful Momma Grace!!

I love you, my beautiful Grace!!
=)

Weird Sunday

I can't believe it! I'm used to getting up in the morning and finding little "presents" left for me by Ruse -- fur/hairballs. Sometimes they're in the house (always on carpet, of course), but lately I've been finding them in the garage ~ much easier to clean stuff up out there!

But today! Hmph! I should have known something would be weird.

• First of all, Audace let me sleep until 6:30 am ~ that alone is VERY strange. His tummy usually gets me up between 5:30 and 6:00, and he's been known to start in around 4:30 or so. Good thing he's cute!
• Second, he was noisier than usual while wolfing down his breakfast.
• Third ~ and this should NOT have been a surprise ~ he threw everything up within 20 minutes of when I put their breakfast out.

I hope this is it for the day!!

5 years ago...

Thanks to SAS for the wonderful graphic above!
We love it! =)

~~~~~~~~~~~~

... I first saw Grace in THIS BLOG POST <~~click here!
and I was hooked!

Now look at my little beauty. She's very filled out and happy ~ and she's such a little jewel.

Her babies are also well filled out and happy. And what's also amazing is that the names Austen chose for the two who stayed with me still fit their personalities! Audace is still audacious and bold; Ruse is still sly and sneaky at times! But best of all, they all are quite loving and lots of fun!


Thank you again, Auntie Deb and Mommy ML, for making sure these little jewels stayed in our world!

Happy Birthday to Mommy ML!!

... to you!

... TO YOU!!

... dear Mommy ML!

... to you ... and many more!!

Love ~ Grace & Company

Honoring Auntie Deb and Mommy ML

Thanks to Maggie and Zooey and their very talented Mom for this magnificent way to tell the world that WE LOVE AUNTIE DEB AND MOMMY ML!!

These are the two ladies responsible for saving my lovely Grace and her four babies from the dreaded back room somewhere in Houston! It's been over five years, and I'm still awed by their work to save these precious bundles!

Be sure to go by their blogs and see their kitty-families, too. All are SOOOO handsome and beautiful!

Auntie Deb's THE TAYLOR CATSSSSS
and
Mommy ML's THE SHERWOOD BUNCH

Super, super, super!!

Remembrance Weekend

Three Tabby Cats in Vienna ~ Kashim, Othello and Salome ~ are hosting a Weekend of Remembrance. I'm lighting a candle in remembrance of my li'l darlin's, Pluto and Indy.

Pluto was with me from October, 1991, until November, 2003. He was marvelous ~ playful and cuddly, too!

Indy was with me from April, 1991, until March, 2006. She has been my longest-lived cat so far! She was a superb hunter, and she made the move from California to Texas with ease.

Thankfully, I have my three little jewels with me: Grace and Audace and Ruse!

I love 'em!!

Boys' birthday yesterday

We celebrated Audace and Ruse's birthday yesterday, for sure, but we also celebrated our lovely Grace for giving birth to her four babies and somehow managing to keep them all alive and together until they were all rescued by Auntie Deb at Mommy ML's urging: "Drive! Hurry! Gotta get 'em!!"



Our fave pastime on special birthdays is to go back into the blog and look at the fantastic photos and movies. Yesterday we focused on 2006, of course!! We also enjoyed all the "happy birthday" comments on the yarn and zzzzzzz post!! Thanks to everyone! =)

2006 <~~Click here to zip back to the magic year!!