Coming to an end

The year is coming to an end, not me. Not this blog, either, although you maybe thought so. Gosh, I have been lazy lately. And clingy. Mom says I'm extremely clingy, and she's right. It's probably the weather. It feels good to snuggle up to a human who keeps telling you how good it feels to snuggle up to a cat.
Until she's freaking out, that is. She has that from time, telling us (Greebo is usually on the other side while the girls hang out in a bit of distance) that she can't breathe anymore and that she needs to move. It usually doesn't last long before she's back with us again.

Meffi is so much better now, and she makes the pill giving pretty easy for Mom ... we'll see how long that will last.
She even took up lap sessions which she hadn't done for the longest time, in fact since Mom got her own desk which has been years.
Isn't she a little beauty?

Now that she's gaining weight again, Esme and I have no scruples stealing her food if we think it's better than ours. Or if we were too fast cleaning off our own plate. Or just for the heck of it.
Too bad the paparazza was there ...

A lot of you already know it. We had to say goodbye to our beloved Buster bunny.
It came as a complete surprise and it went fast, too fast. I miss my little buddy and I also know Mom is still very sad. She can't talk about him without tearing up. Her friend Heather (the other half of the HeatherCats) painted a picture after one of Buster's photos. It's just how I imagine him. He's probably snuggling up to Merlin right this second, lying in the grass in the sun.
You won't be forgotten, Buster, that's for sure.

Nine years

Time runs by, that's not new. Not that us cats care. We live in the here and now, as in "Come HERE and look what I've got" or "I want food NOW".
Mom is a bit jealous of that ability, just as much of our ways to relax without feeling the slightest bit of guilt. Just now she took a look at Esme sleeping on a chair and Buster sleeping underneath the same chair and heaved one of her sighs ... and took a picture.
That's not the picture I want to show you, however. When downloading the pictures from the camera to the infamous "ATempCats" folder that holds everything that still needs to be cropped etc., she found a picture of Buster having an intimate little talk with one of the wooden cats and it reminded her of something.

Almost exactly nine years are between these pictures of Merlin and Buster. The wooden cat is still there to tell the tale. If it could talk, that is.

Rollercoaster

Life has been a rollercoaster around here lately. The worst of all was the scare that my beautiful lady gave us, though.
Mom was convinced that this was it, but just when she decided she couldn't let Meffi suffer any longer, the Queen showed her clearly who makes the decisions in this house, and it's definitely not the human. She got up and had a bite to eat.
Now she gets a pill a day, is generally being adorable except when I annoy her, and glares at Mom when she tries to put her eye meds in. Oh, did I forget to mention that? Two different eye meds five times a day because she managed to get a little wound in her eye. It's a lot better now, thank Bast, and they are down to three times a day.

Meffi in her favorite hideout these days, the tub. It has been reported that it's quite a sight when Mom is sitting in the tub, trying to get a good grip at Meffi doing her weasel impression. Sorry for the bad pic, the lighting was suboptimal that evening.

Mom keeps asking me why cats are so difficult if their humans just want to help them.
The answer is easy. We are cats!!

The Royal Court

Rumors go that cat nobility is living in this house. Of course they are right.
Not so right is that Mom thought it would be funny to put a crown on Esme's head while my little sister is sleeping in her bed and can't defend herself.
I would have had to take measurements if she had tried the same with me. I don't need a crown, my behavior speaks for me.

At least it's just a photo editor crown and not like what she did to Esme when she was still an innocent babe, almost exactly eight years ago (these are scrunchies she put over her ears, no respect, that woman!).

P.S. I was so shocked that I actually forgot to log in to my own account this time!!

The Mighty Hunter

First of all let me warn you. This post contains graphic images, so if you tend to queasiness, hysterical outbursts or uncontrollable sob attacks, you should tread carefully now.
I usually recommend the old "looking through your fingers with your head slightly turned away from the screen" approach.

Meet Stevie. Quite a handsome dude with his big eyes. Don't let that fool you. He may look like the kind and sweet guy next door, but Stevie has a talent that I can only admire. A manly talent. An archaic talent. It makes me want to beat my chest and howl to the moon together with him. Too bad I am neither a gorilla nor a wolf (although Mom says that in my younger days I used to howl to the moon a few times ... I can't remember that, must have been my werecat phase).

Stevie is a hunter. I can see you looking each other, thinking that isn't unusual for a feline. Stevie isn't an ordinary hunter, though. The game he keeps taking on day after day after day is much more dangerous than a little mouse or even a rat.
He's facing certain death every day, but never stops in his efforts to keep his people and his cat pals safe.
Let the pictures speak for themselves.

"I've got its tail!!!"

"You can come closer now, it's dead alright."

"Gotcha!!"

The fiendish enemy - beaten.

"They get bigger every day, but I won't let that stop me!"

Last breath

Another one bites the dust

"You only got what you deserved, but you did put up a good fight."

Ready for the taxidermist

We are doomed

Step by step Buster is taking over the place. It was a while ago already that he put up his little bunny flag (a carrot on a green background) in the kitchen, in the bathroom, even in the toilet. Tiles are no longer the way to keep out the might bunny explorer.
There are only two more white spots on his map, one is the room behind the kitchen which is home to two of our litter boxes, the other one are the stairs in the office.

Yesterday however Buster put his little (virtual) helmet on and went to conquer the stairs. As you can see, I was not quite sure about what was going on here.

Mom cut me out of the next picture in which I did a big jump over him, all she caught was an annoyed looking tail. The stairs have been mine from the very beginning and I shared them most generously with my pals. Buster didn't even ask, though! Of course the reason could be that his meow is really bad, practically non-existent.

He came as far as three steps up which didn't amuse Esme who had retreated there to have a bunny-free catnap. Unfortunately our home photographer was too slow once again, so you'll just have to believe me.

Shop improvement

You know that I always participate in the monthly blog carnival of the Jewelry Artisans Community. I feel that as a master thief of valuables of all kinds I am more than predestined to do so.
Shop improvement is not really my subject, though. I'm not a shopkeeper. Come on, I'm a cat! I have people who do that for me, and those people (aka Mom) also should improve the shops that I own to make huge loads of money for me and my pals ... better cat food, better cat TV, better cat everything!
Excuse me while I try to calm down a little.

So instead of boring you with cat-unrelated stuff, I'll show you a totally random picture of a worn out Esme. Enjoy!

P.S. Oh, I forgot. Should you be interested in shops, have a look at these blogs. Fair warning ... no cats!

Jewelry Art by Dawn 
Bead Sophisticate 
Cat's Wire

P.P.S. Mom said I'm not taking this seriously. Do you think she is being serious?

Surfin' USA

It's hot. In that heat I bet I am not the only one who is dreaming of the beach, the water ... let's go surfing! It's the office and not the USA, but hey, I take what I can get.

Something is wrong here. I'm not moving. Ok, I'll go swimming in the sink then.

P.S. Mom just told me that my surfboard is actually Buster's nibble cardboard. I say board is board. It would explain the weird shape, though.

Greebo The Fabulous Melting Cat

Have a look at this amazing show! Within seconds Greebo is melting from a cat to a flat cake!!
Well done, bro! Applause, applause!

Of course after this fabulous entertainer came back down the stairs - it has been the first time by the way that he showed his act all the way up there - I still had to pounce him and make him wince. Mom was not amused. She's a spoilsport. Greebo and I love those games. Maybe I love them a bit more than he does.

Play bunny of the month

"I bet your butt isn't as sexy as mine."

Hotel Mom - a rant

There used to be a time when this hotel was, well, not a five star place, but let's say a solid three star one.
Now it's struggling to even keep one star, and we are not talking the gold kind, it's more like bent and rusty these days and the gold paint is flaking off, too.
What happened?
Granted, one of the owners left. He was responsible for early breakfast service and emergency food acquisition. On the other hand he was pretty lousy regarding late night cuddles, and often he seemed to think that he was the one who had power of decision when it's so obviously us. I don't see, however, how him leaving would change the overall performance that much.

Of course this rant has a particular reason. Yesterday staff snapped at me ... more than once. That is simply intolerable. All I wanted was to lie on her wrist or hang around on the shoulder, and she kept nagging "You are too heavy, baby, my arm is going numb." or "Stop digging your claws into my shoulder, that hurts, Mr Ponder." Worst of all was her unacceptable proposition to either go away or to have my claws clipped. What the ....???? Does she really think calling me "baby" makes this any more tolerable?

I wasn't the only one who was affected, though. My poor sister just took a sweet little nap in her TV chair when staff woke her up forcibly by poking her and then shoving her towards the footrest part of the chair. When confronted she said "I didn't shove her, I gently pushed, so I could get to my blanket. She was welcome to lie down on my legs once I was done." Sure, sure. And what about when Esme finally decided to take this poor offer and got reprimanded for, I quote, "putting your big butt on my wire spool". It was her head, not her butt, and it's a very cute and pretty round head.
Next Greebo tried to take his spot on the chair, or on the staff as she happens to fill up the chair once she's in it, and there she goes absolutely berserk and throws both of them off. Her excuse? "I had to get up." Well, get up, lady, but let (almost) sleeping cats lie!

Really bad is the food situation. Can you imagine that at this very moment when I am sitting here, writing this, starving slowly, all there is in the house are
- cat snack sticks (organic and absolutely inedible!!)
- cat snacks (that we don't eat)
- a small portion of dry food
- Esme's meds
I don't care if she keeps telling me that a big parcel will arrive later this day. She doesn't have to show me the e-mail saying that the parcel has been put into the mail truck, and there's no need to tell me that she would have gone to the store for an emergency buy if there had been any doubt about the food being delivered today. Along with the cat litter, by the way. We are on emergency litter at the moment. There are always a few bags of it, in case we run out of the regular stuff (organic, but in this case acceptable) for whatever reason (whatever reason = stuff being ordered too late). It's white and blue and it makes strange crackly sounds when you step on it. The verdict is still out on it.
Back to the food. Fact is that Meffi got the last mushy food and we others got so little dry food that I had to raid Meffi's plate when she was gone for a second and then throw everything up on the hallway floor. That obviously means that none of us had much food at all. Maybe I should say the word again, it's really important ... food.

Worst of all is this, though. The flying carpet won't start. AGAIN!!

Time flies

"Einszweidrei! im Sauseschritt, läuft die Zeit; wir laufen mit." That's what the German humorist Wilhelm Busch said in 1877, translated that could be "One-two-three, in hasty race, time is running, we keep pace." as I found elsewhere.

These pictures of my sister and me were taken merely eight years (seven years, ten months, two weeks and three days if you want the exact time) ago.
We had invaded the household not long before that and captured hearts immediately. How could we not, just look at us! Are we adorable in this picture or are we ADORABLE? I'm the taller one, by the way. The picture was taken when we were sitting at the second floor window that became one of our favorite spots because pigeons liked to fly close by. When we grew older, we felt they did it on purpose to taunt us. Even though Mom agreed on that, we couldn't convince her to take the cat net off the window. 

These pictures were taken two days ago. We might have changed since then. Just a tiny teensy bit. We both grew, we both gained some weight, but we didn't lose our curiosity. That time we were looking out of the side window on the first floor (the second floor has been lost to us for quite some time now, but that's ok, we could handle that amazingly fast, much to Mom's joy and relief), and it was 5 am. Outside doesn't just look dark because it was obviously dark, but also because the house there is under construction at the moment which means lots of scaffolds, plastic covers and stuff.

 Boy, we sure had some fun in these eight years.

Chillax, Moooooom! or A game of hide and seek

Nothing can freak out Mom more than when one of us is hiding. We like to hide. Meffi sleeps under the bed or in the bathroom, now even more because it's so hot and she avoids the cat beds and blankets. Esme hides under the TV armchair. Black and black works perfectly, it took Mom a while to figure that one out. Greebo rarely hides, he sleeps on the table or the laundry chest.

Today I took the prize, though. That's what Mom said. It was actually very funny hearing her running through all of the rooms, looking under the bed, looking in the wardrobe four times although I had vacated that spot way before she shut the door again, checking the window in the bathroom that wasn't even open and yelling for me.
What's interesting about that was that she rudely shut me down this morning when I was running through the flat singing to the world from the window sill.

Finally she found me. She looked pathetic, panting from the heat like a dog even more than the last few days, bangs glued to her forehead and a drop of sweat running down her nose. I have to admit I was amused.
You want to know where I was? Well, in the spot that Mom explicitly kept for us to hide of course! It's not my fault she's a lousy seeker! ;-)

Orange.

Gee, it has been a month since I last posted. Sorry. We have been pretty lazy around here the last weeks ...
Well, this month's topic at JAC is "Orange". Make something with the color orange. Well, I don't "make". So I thought I'd show you a picture of Buster eating an orange carrot instead.
Much more interesting anyway ...

If you want to read some serious posts about orange, you can find them here:
N Valentine Studio
Jewelry Art by Dawn
Cat's Wire

Mother's Day

Mother's Day? That's this month's topic for the JAC forum blog carnival?
Could you make it any more difficult for me? I don't know where Esme's and my Mom is. Human Mom doesn't even know who she is or was. She does have an image in her head, yes, but I can't tell her if it's true. It's a bit of a sore subject between us, but it's no my fault the lady can't speak cat very well.
She did meet Meffi's and Greebo's mother at the farm. Seriously though, who cares? We are all stuck with her now. Do I sound a bit miffed? That's because I am. She trimmed my claws this morning while all I wanted to do was snuggle with her. I can't help the skin on her knee being so thin obviously. The food she served today was a cruel joke, we didn't touch it (Mom: "It wasn't junk food, but that doesn't make it a cruel joke!! You ate it just fine off Meffi's plate yesterday, you hypocrite!"). Yesterday she kept telling me I was too heavy to lie on her arm while she was typing. Oh, now I'm fat, too? Huh? Is that what you are trying to tell me?

I'm not sure if things will look up until Mother's Day. She might get a gift after all. I'm just not sure yet if it will be love and hugs or an agreement not to provoke Meffi that day or if it will be something on the carpet that makes her eyes roll.

For some human Mother's Day please have a look at these posts. I'll add more links as I receive them.

Cat's Wire
Bead Sophisticate
Jewelry Art by Dawn
Jeanne's Jems and Jewels 

It's been a hard day's night

Or maybe it has been a hard night's day. Or a hard morning's afternoon. Or maybe a cat's hard life's break?
Poor little sister. Mom should be ashamed of herself, making Esme work like a dog. A cat should never have to work like a dog.

It started with having to wake up Mom. Cats do not have a snooze button, and still we keep coming back, playing every dirty trick in the house. Not because we want to, but because we have to. Can't we be hungry, only because it's 4 am in the morning? At least today she gave in at 6 ... but then we didn't like the food. Esme is close to starving anyway, can't you tell? Shame on you, Mom.

As our human is not ready or able to learn, we had to repeat the protests at 11 am, 2 pm, 4 pm and 6.45 pm. Esme is invaluable during these actions, not only because she can use her most annoying voice, the one that goes like a drill right into a human's brain, but also because she definitely is the expert headbutter in this house. She has the neck of a full grown bull and she's not afraid to use that head.
She also uses it to help let out Buster, to try and knock the laptop off the desk when more important things need to be done (like feeding or brushing or feeding ... did I mention feeding?).

Of course in between there are the little tasks like getting into Mom's way and almost make her trip, walk on her ribs - which always works best when she wants to sleep - everyday stuff like that.

It can wear the toughest cat out.

Mom got a new loom

She did get it just so I could have a new box! Well done, Mom!
Let me demonstrate how this rather flat box can be used. (It does remind a bit of a pizza box, doesn't it? I'm never allowed to take a nap in a pizza box, though.)

 

The Ultimate Beadloom. Who cares. It should say The Ultimate Beadloom BOX!

Are you ready? Watch.

A very classic position. As you can tell, the box holds almost all of my length, and believe me, I was not the runt of the litter.

Relaxed on my side. I call this my orgy position even if I don't have one of those old Roman couches. I also don't eat nightingale tongues.

It doesn't make a half bad bed, either. I've been told I passed out from one second to the next and didn't wake up until half an hour later ...

P.S. I know I didn't show the sitting up position. Well, do forgive me for being a bit lazy every, now and then. You know what a hard worker I usually am!

P.P.S. You can even use this box to puke on. I'm not going to show a picture of that one, though. Mom was not happy that I hit the carpet first and she was doing a lot of grumbling while cleaning up instead of pitying me for stuffing my face too much after she refused to get up at 3, 4, 5 and 6 am to feed us. I was hungry, geez ... and when I'm hungry, I tend to overdo it sometimes.

P.P.P.S. Of course the others are also allowed to use it after it has been cleaned up. Mom tried to get a picture of Esme and her yellow ball in the box, but she was too slow. Maybe she should have gotten her pick-her-up morning chai earlier!

You've got a friend

Hum along if you know the song while reading another tale of crime, catastrophes and friendship.

Let's start with the catastrophes. Both Mom and I have been terribly lazy bloggers lately. There are several things that kept us - lack of motivation, laziness and general headdesking (is that a word?).
To be open about it, Mom was the one who mostly did the last one while I supervised it to make sure she didn't put any big dents in one of my favorite napping spots.
I'll spare you the whole story of blocked sinks, pipe cleaning guys, water under the sink, home remedies, plumber cracks, lying around on the kitchen floor, using up a lot of kitchen roll ... let me just say we knock on as much wood as we can find to make sure that is over now. Meffi is tired of having to vacate her kitchen spots, Esme is tired of having to hide under the duvet while Greebo is sitting under the bed ... and I'm tired of Mom whining. If someone is allowed to whine here, it's me, if only because it's fun to drive Mom nuts while she is trying to find out what I want, hehe.

And now to the crime section. All I'll say is Swedish chicken and a hungry cow cat. When will Mom learn to put the complete food order away? She got up because she suspected Buster was nibbling on the last box in his room, instead she found Greebo in the box outside of Buster's room.
The funny part about it is that from that moment on Greebo has been refusing to touch the Swedish chicken mostly.

You know that Buster is free to run again, do you? The cage you see in the picture is just the place where he has his food, water, some of his toys and the spot where he can read his morning paper, ehem. He really seems to love his room, and we visit him a lot, even Meffi has taken up the habit to stay with him.
If you need proof of a beautiful friendship, here it is - Esme, Buster and Greebo.
Unfortunately Mom was too slow to get the camera and I still have that opposable thumb problem meaning I don't have one. If she was quicker, you would have seen pictures of Buster trying to get up on Esme's back. It was adorable, I guess. At least I Mom said awwww a lot.

See you around soon for this month's JAC blog ring, and who knows, maybe I'll share some pictures with you before that. I do have a load in my special cat folder that need editing.
Have a good time until then!

Plans for the new year

Wow, it has been a long time, but seriously, guys, I had a LOT on my plate. You wouldn't believe the things that are going on here.

We are very slowly trying to find back to a normal life now. Buster has his freedom back and is doing his best to adjust to the new, slippery floor. Esme is feeling better and still fighting Mom every other day about taking her medication. Greebo has been all the way up on the stairs today and had the same confused look on his face as I did the first time. Unfortunately the picture got all blurry. Meffi is sleeping in her basket on the fridge right now, and I'm just about to settle on the table in a few minutes if the vacuum is already reserved (it's not packed away because there's a big session has been going on over the last few days).

You remember the Jewelry Artisans Community? They are trying to get back into the groove and had another blog ring with the topic "Plans for the new year".
To be honest, I feel the year is pretty used already. It has one or the other scratch. Just like Mom, hehe. Can you believe that earlier this evening she started trimming my claws? We have had a seriously heated discussion about that.

And that brings me to my main plan.
Mom needs to learn respect again. She needs to see that we are the bosses around here, and that I'm Mr Ponder Stibbons, the male in the house. The numero uno honcho. Mr Wonderful. The Chief of Chief and the King of Kings. The Ruler. The Only One. PONDER. In big and bold letters.
I have spoken.

Wanna know what plans the others have got? Check it out!
Cat's Wire (I am missing plans to spoil the felines in this one)
Bead Sophisticate
N Valentine Studio
Jewelry Art by Dawn

Stairway to .... huh???

What the??? Seriously, I mean, I'm ... Sorry, guys, but I'm still a bit confused about what I saw today.
We have had the contractor in house for weeks now, and finally even I got annoyed and didn't try to play with him anymore. At first he fixed up Buster's room, then he kept disappearing behind the door to the dining room, the room with the stairs going up.
Today the door finally opened again, and it didn't take long before I went to check out what had happened. I'm not sure what I had expected, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't that!!

The first check

"Mom, something is very wrong here, there used to be a hole to walk through!"

"Ok, Ponder, let me explain to you what happened ...."

"I think it's still a little dusty up here, I'll need to clean myself."

"You know, it is kind of weird for a big cat like me, but I guess I could get used to it."

"Esme, Greebo, Meffi!!! You'll have to see this!!!"

"Oh come on, you cowards, that'll be a great hiding spot, come and check it out!"

"It's still weird, though."

The other three haven't checked it out yet and I still like to sit up there and yell hoping the hole will open back up again. Mom says that won't happen, but that we'll try to get creative soon and add some fun stuff like a spider web for the Steiff spiders, maybe a curtain - I vote for beaded, that would be sooo much fun to play with! - and who knows what.
Maybe it'll become the stairway to cat heaven after all? ;-)