I, Mozart

2012-01-15T05:03:00.004-05:00

Dear Mum and Dad,

I am fine, how are you?

I have been enjoying my Scottish holiday! On New Years Eve we had a nice spot of excitement at Midnight when Him woke up Her and They went out to the back garden to let off fireworks. They took my picture when They came back inside:

They took another picture of me on New Years Day but as it is exactly like the one from the previous evening I shall save bandwidth and not ask Her to post it.

It has been a little cold here so I spend a lot of my time in front of the wood stoves, on the bed under the duvet, or keeping warm by playing String and Swing.

String and Swing is a very good game with two majour components. Part One involves Him pulling a string for me to chase; Part Two involves Him pulling the string (and me) to the small mat, where I immediately lie flat so Him can fold the mat and swing me. I LOVE this game!

I have a perch now and They understand Cat well enough now that when I want to go on my perch and meorow to tell them, they lift me up onto the top of the cabinet in the study. I can look out of the front window, or I can watch Her walking around the house. I think Her knows I am giving careful thought to pouncing.

Well, Mum and Dad, I have a New Year surprise for you. I knew you wanted me to learn to accommodate The Horrible and I think these photos show that while I still HATE The Horrible, I know it is the only way Them will let me outside:

2011-12-25T07:03:00.004-05:00

I think I will let the pictures of my Scottish Holiday Christmas Eve speak for themselves, and bid you all a very Happy Christmas, and a prosperous New Year from Roo, the Devon Kat wot misses his Mum and Dad but is enjoying his Scottish Holiday!

2011-12-04T11:10:00.003-05:00

Hi, it's People here (Mozart's People), with some sad news. Roo's Mum has lost her mother today. She had recently been diagnosed with a serious illness and this morning it claimed her as she slept.

They are a large and close-knit family so Roo's Mum and Dad aren't alone. My prayers are with them.

2011-11-26T11:54:00.003-05:00

Hooboy, some Fanksgiving. Hmph.

I've been reading Mozart's blog, ya see, and I have been reading other blogs on the InnerWebs, and so I was ready for Thanksgiving, wozn't I?! I figured what with Her being American and all...I've heard about Turkey And All The Trimmings, see, and I woz REALLY looking forward to it.

(Dear Mum and Dad, these Persons are as boring as it gets. Trust me.)

Maybe Him being Scottish cancels out Her being American? I dunno, Her talks a little funny but not that funny-she ALMOST sounds like the Persons sound where I'm from. Him sounds ALMOST like me Dad, so I know Him really is Scottish. But after what happened this Fanksgiving I mean Thanksgiving Day, I'm not entirely sure Her really is American, know what I mean?

Big woo-tee, Her spent all day out hunting (wait for it...) welly boots. With neo-preen lining, whatever that is. How many ways are there to preen, I'd like to know. Then Her gets home with the welly boots and I smelled 'em, and ya know, it's not neo-preened at all, it's some kinda rubber thingy sprayed inside the welly boots called "neoprene" and YOU CAN'T EAT IT!!!!

S'all good, I figured, "Now Her is gonna spend the rest of the afternoon putting the Turkey With All The Trimmings in the hot box and we are gonna eat like kings.

No.

Her went into the workroom and started sewing Him another pair of pyjamas while watching some parade thingy on the laptop-SO I COULDN'T EVEN BLOG!

(But Him did light a fire in the workroom wood stove so I could lie in front of it...)

FINALLY Her went into the kitchen and...opened some tins. WOT?!

Him came in with a hot chicken from ASDA.

They ate the potatoes and the broccoli (yeah, they eat broccoli. Yech) and the chicken.

Hmph, even if I did get a nice portion of the chicken (which was pretty good really, I'm glad ASDA spent her day in the kitchen or we woulda starved), it WAS NOT TURKEY WITH ALL THE TRIMMINGS and I personally think it should have been. Her said Her is gonna plan a REAL Thanksgiving dinner for next year. I'll be back with Mum and Dad and I wouldn't give that up even for the chance to have a real American Thanksgiving Dinner, so Her better pull out all the stops for Christmas!!!!!!!!

(PS Mum and Dad, ASDA can't bake a pie to save her life. Her said that was the worst apple pie Her ever had. I dunno, the ice cream was tasty, but yeah, the pie wasn't any where near all that. I helped wash up, so I got some and I think Her is right about ASDA not baking very good pies-luckily there was mostly ice cream to wash up but I washed up a little pie mixed in...)

After dinner They watched telly. Her does this thing called Crochet. Naturally it fascinates me, being as it something done with string and so I watched:

Very relaxing, this Crochet thingy. I helped by holding down the Crochet so it wouldn't escape:

Well, it's Windy and Cold. I'm glad I didn't have The Horrible practice today. I'm getting used to it, but I still don't like the way it feels wrapped around my middle.

There is Snow behind the Windy, I can smell it. Her says she can too, and Her is glad to have found the neoprene lined welly boots before it Snows. I think I'm glad I am In and not Out, because Snow is Cold.

Very.

In my next blog post I am going to share piccies me Mum and Dad sent, Her has them in a folder so I can post them with two paw clicks!

2011-11-18T01:05:00.008-05:00

@Cammie's Kitties-OH YES, that works VERY well! Me Mum and Dad are gonna get a Roly-Poly home when The Warm returns, roflol!

More piccies!

In this first one is my soon to be fursister, Shadow-she's very purrrrrty!

And this is my soon to be fursister Dinky-she's very purrrrrty too!

When we are at the caravan I like to use the skylight to keep a watch on my beans-gotta make sure they are OK and have me Noms ready, lol!

Here I am in the same pose, erm, position I was using when I got me Mum and Dad to fall in love with me...

I think the final straw about me not staying in Devon for another cold snowy winter, was when a lady in the caravan opposite told my Mum & Dad about me following her around the site crying & trying to get into her caravan. Although I could get into Mum & Dads there was no heating on and it was very cold, that really upset my Mum & Dad, hence I am in with my foster
parents with until The Warm returns.

Something that you might like to try with your furbabies - I've found that if I've been caught out in the rain is a quick rub down with a piece of kitchen roll to help dry me off is rather nice, and takes the strain out of having to do it all yourself. It was quite funny the first time my Mum did it. (she said she didn't want a soaking wet furbaby curled up next to her). She called my Dad to look at the expression on my face, they both say I had a startled look of "What are you doing? I'm used to D.I.Y. or drip-drying".

I also like being brushed but not too keen on the spikey side, as Mum found out when I attacked the brush. I was a very good Roo and made sure that her hands were not in the way first. I'd never been brushed prior to coming to live with Mum & Dad. If you've been following my story on I Mozart & Gonzo blogosphere will know that I didn't get the attention I deserved from the Pillocks.

You can't have a highly intelligent & sensitive furbaby like me without tending to all of my needs. I occasionally get weepy eyes, and I'm really good about Mum bathing them with a little warm water on a cotton wool ball. (Mum told me she was going to get some golden eye ointment for me, but couldn't as it's no longer made - unless any of my furfriends can tell me what she can get that is similar?).

I was returned to my old beans during the early summer while my new Mum & Dad were at their permanent home for a couple of weeks. Another camper took pity on me as my eyes had been weeping quite a lot - I wonder if furbabies get hayfever? They didn't know I'd adopted & been adopted by my new Mum & Dad so suggested to the old Missus that a trip to the V E T was needed. The Missus said "Oh, we haven't seen him for six months" and didn't seem at all concerned about them. She took me in the front door, put me down and I was back out before she could close it. I hated it there - I went straight to the holiday park into my Mum & Dads caravan and kept my head down. I didn't want to be taken back there ever again!

Mum regularly keeps in touch letting me how much she & Dad are missing me (he's not one for showing his feelings) but I've heard through the grapevine that when my foster parents left with me in their car, Dad said that there was a huge Roo shaped hole in their lives and Mum should stop crying as she knew it was for the best, that they'd get to see me again when they come up to Scotland during the Christmas holidays, then I'd be back permanently with them when The Warm returns in the spring. I've always got my ears cocked listening out for them as I miss them as well!

Dear Mum and Dad, please tell Sue and Paul I miss their fussing almost as much as I miss yours! The neighbours come to visit and they give me good fusses but I miss yours. A lot. I am having a very nice Scottish Holiday but it will be nice to be Home again.

Purrs, kisses, and head bumps from your lad,

Roo

2011-11-14T04:23:00.005-05:00

FINALLY! Hmph.

Her and Him have been so busy doing something called 'winterising' that Her has not been leaving the laptop turned on so I could post these piccies to the blog. Hmph.

But Her FINALLY has, so here are some pics (more to come, me Mum sent a huge lot for me to post:):

First, here are two snaps of me with me Mum and Dad:

Here's me on the roof-very good viewing of where to strike next, erm, I mean visit. Seriously, just visit. I certainly was not up there to scout out potential sausage gathering tents, erm, spots, erm, never mind:

OK, and finally, here I am napping. Again. Shins do make very good pillows indeed!

I am still trying to learn to appreciate (hmph) The Horrible. It truly is Horrible, I do not like the way it feels all wrapped around me middle and front like that. Her showed me a YouTube video of a cat wearing one and going outside, but I think Them should just give it all up and let me Out. I understand why Mozart wasn't terribly interested in Out but I have never fallen with a squirrel next wrapped around me, nor have I had to contend with Things That Would Eat Me as much as he did, even though I was an Outdoor cat, we just have fewer Things That Would Eat Me. Plus I could hide better, I think. Mozart wasn't exactly the right colour cat to be able to hide in the hedgerows-WOWSA, he was ginger, wasn't he!

And They took my Hoard! Him said their kitchen is too small to have a big (growing, too) stack of Roo MREs (Her thinks it is funny to call me Whiskas pouches 'meals-ready-to-eat) sitting in the middle of the room. Hmph. Me Hoard was NOT in the middle of the room, Her had it neatly stacked against the back wall, but Him made Her hand it all up to Him to stack in the loft.

I went up there to make sure me Hoard would be safe from unauthorised nibbling by the mice-but there are no other animals except Us here, so it is ok, I guess. I liked seeing me Hoard next to Theirs, and I don't think I like that mine is in the loft but there you go.

@Mum, yes! I would like to see piccies of me soon-to-be-fursisters! I will try to be polite, like you said, and I think I can do it, Mum, I really do! I KNOW I can do it better than I can do The Horrible, LOL!

2011-11-05T06:50:00.010-04:00

Dear Mum and Dad, Her is finally letting me get a word in edgewise on teh Blog-O-Sphere. Sheesh, Her reads more than Him, and Him reads ALOT!

I have some piccies for you to admire, but first I want to show off my mad Copy&Paste skilz by bringing yer comment into the blog, Mum. I'm putting it a bold and italicised (stoopid SpelCheK spels Uhmerican, wut's up with that?!) highlight so's everyone will know it's a special quote from me Mum, telling my story in my words:

Roos Mum said...
It's time to tell the story about the sausage :D

While Mum & Dad had left a window open for me to come & go as I pleased and for someone to come down and feed me twice a day while they were at their permanent home, I missed their company & fusses.

This particular evening (2.30am) I needed some company so took myself for a walk around the holiday park. I soon smelt sausages and found a tent I hadn't previously been in. So thought I'd be polite and introduce myself. BIG problem there was a dog in residence who showed immediately he didn't like cats, barking and causing such a fuss, I ended up showing my sharp claws and smacked him across the nose. During the kerfuffle his people woke up and started shouting, this woke up other people on the campsite including the site owner who came across to see what all the noise was about (the site is usually very quite, so the noise was unusual) - the sausage smell had led me into more trouble, I'd spotted where the sausages had been left, so grabbed them on the way out.

I'm pussona non gratia on the campsite now which is why The Horrible has been put on me, that way I won't be able to raid tents in the future when I go back to my Mum & Dad in the spring.

November 4, 2011 7:56 AM

Yes Mum, I am being a fairly good Roo 'bout The Horrible. I suppose I really should learn how to wear it so that nobody at the holiday park ever accuses me of another sausage raid.

Her went to the library last week and got a book about helping cats get comfortable with The Horrible. I wouldn't do that for anyone else but you and Dad, Mum.

I would be mad at Her for making me go through this but yesterday when she came in from the dentist (and before she crawled miserably under the duvet until Him brought her some soup) she gave me this pressie she got for me while she was waiting for her bus. I like it, but don't tell Him that quite yet because I think Him is just a little bit jealous Her thought of it before Him did. (ROFLOL, last night I watched where Her put the wool shawl Her is working on after Her took me off of it even though it is a very nice Roo bed and I think Her should let me have it. Him saw me sleeping on it and didn't say anything to Her...)

It is a lot more fun than the picture shows, Mum and Dad. I can stick my paw through the top OR the side to get that inside ball. Someday I will get that ball. I like the springy outside ball, too, and like to make it spring.

Here is another picture, this one is of me holding Her down so Her doesn't float away while Her is hogging the InnerWebs. I want MY turn!

And here are my special pictures. I like to hide and wait for Them to ambush. This is one of my most magical hiding spots, Him never sees me, lol!

And I like waiting here, too-Her wears something Trifocals and so (Her says) Her never sees it coming:

And best of (but no piccies, maybe next time before The Hoard diminishes) is my own special corner in the kitchen where They store my Hoard. The hunting place called Tesco had an amazing offer on this week-BOGO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So They did, and I have 52 days of long range dated Whiskas pouches! Mum, I am a happy Kat that you and Dad sent with me with such good Foster Persons for the winter! I like to come and sit in the kitchen staring at my riches, it is a Good Thing.

2011-10-28T12:41:00.009-04:00

Dear Mum and Dad, hiya, it's Roo.

I am having a fair good time here in Scotland-They feed me OK (just the same things you fed me, Mum, but it doesn't taste as good as when you give it to me so I am only eating what I have to), and They keep my convenience tidy.

I don't want to complain, but I have to tell you that She has a strange notion of what the word "pressies' means. She went down to the shops this morning. She came back past my window:

She came inside and unpacked her grocery shop. I did not get any food.

I got:

A ball to chase.

A mousie to chew.

Don't worry Mum, it's a faboolus fake. The fur kinda tastes like mousie though, but the insides are hard and I like to chew on it even better than the cord to the heater. Uhm, that might be why She brought it home from the shops.

BUT THEN SHE PUT A HORRIBLE ON ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And I did not like it:

I tried to rub it off but it will not rub off. They have to take it off for me. I did not like it, Mum and Dad, even though I did get to go outside whilst it was on me:

They have a lawn here and I looked at it through the fence:

But I hated having the Horrible on so much that I told Them to take me inside. When They did, and when They took off the Horrible, I went under the bed and did not play with my other pressies for a while because I was not happy at Her for bringing home the Horrible.

Mum, I think She is going to put the Horrible on me again. I think She will only let me go outside with the Horrible on. The neighbour came out with her little kittens, I mean little girls, and I heard her say that it's a very good idea to keep me safe until I go home with me Mum and Dad. So I will try to get used to the Horrible. But I don't like it.

Besides the Horrible, Scotland is actually rather nice, though I do miss my rabbit hunting (thanks, Dad, for sending Her the snaps):

But I don't think Him or Her is ever going to give me a chance to go rabbit hunting whilst I am on my Scottish Holiday. To quote Mozart, HMPH!

I am being a good boy just like you told me to, and am looking forward to being free, I mean going home to be with you. They are very nice (except They put Horribles on cats, that's not very nice), but I miss you very much.

Well, I will close this now and get on my bed by the wood stove in the bedroom. Him has lit a fire and it is very cosy in there.

Love Always,

Your lad Roo

PS-OH! @Camie's Kitties-thank you for the warm welcome! I think a Scottish Holiday (except for The Horrible) is a rather pleasant way to spend Winter, and I am glad to feel Mozart and Gonzo won't mind me borrowing their blogDOTspot to keep me Mum and Dad updated.

Mozart's People asked me to pass on the sad news that she likely will never know anything more about them after their new persons asked her to "let it go". It's very sad, that, and I hope They find the right cat to fill their home after I go back to me Mum and Dad's when The Warm comes back. Except for The Horrible, They are good cat persons, I can tell from the way They know how to Fuss me right and proper.

2011-10-27T03:43:00.005-04:00

Good morning, permit me to introduce myself, I am Roo'!

Short for Rooney, however I am neither Irish nor a footballer (although the dogs and rabbits where I've spent my life will beg to differ on that matter-remind me to tell you about the sausage raid sometime soon as well:)

I am a nearly six year old (but really, who's counting?) Burmese-Siamese cross recently removed from Devonshire where I was the scourge of the countryside, and the well loved unofficial King of the Caravans where I found me own true loves, Mum and Dad. Here's me in an ungaurded moment (although it doesn't show me in my full glory at all):

Now, I was bred and raised in Devon, first living with a set of Persons who frankly are complete pillocks. Suffice it to say that although they at first attended to my needs with some casual regularity, they permitted the younger members of the pride to perform certain acts of torture so unforgivable that I soon took myself off to the nearby holiday park and found myself new Persons-me Mum and Dad. To make a long story short this good morning, I shall leave it for another time and let it go by saying they are simply the best Persons EVER. They care for me very much and I've heard them say many times that when their 'old fellow' goes to the Bridge I shall make the journey to live with them near London, where I shall undoubtably be the King of those environs.

They've taken me back to my so-called first Persons several times and I have always gone in the front and out the back as quick as you can please, often making it back to the caravan park before they do.

However, while I may not be counting my years, they are. Mum and Dad decided I shouldn't spend another Devon winter essentially on my own-something to do with the sausage raid, no doubt. I really must tell you all about that, it ranks right up there with the agreement I have with the caravan park owner Person's dog-I get the rabbits and bring her the ears which are the only parts she really likes. I do so love a win-win:)

So. One day a week ago They arrived. They seem alright, and once I heard Her tell me Mum that they would simply give me a Scottish Winter Holiday and then bring me back when The Warm returns, I willingly permitted me Mum to put me into the Roo Transport atop the lovely little nest made up of two jumpers-one of me Mum's and one of me Dad's.

And we were away. Frankly I tell you motor car transport is not all that. Suffice it to say that I was glad to see the litter box upon arrival! No mean feat for a fellow used to going out the open window whenever the Call of Nature arises, I managed to make it over 600 miles without what She calls 'an accident'. I also managed not to leave those nice little puddles of sick I've heard the caravan furbabies talk about leaving their Persons during a travel.

Here is a snap of me in my Roo Transport. It wants improvement for the return to Devon. I shall have to speak to Her about it.

And now I have some exploring to do so I shall turn this over to Her and She will flesh out some of the details for you. I am looking forward to reading the Adventures of Mozart and Gonzo on HIs computer while She does. She misses them quite a lot, I heard Her tell Him that once She saw how much I love me Mum and Dad, She knew it was like Her with Mozart and Gonzo-they are my furever Persons and I rather think it is in Mozart and Gonzo's honour that She wants to give me a Scottish Holiday instead of a safe and warm for the rest of my life. She's quite right you know, I would have missed me Mum and Dad for the rest of me life, always keeping half an ear cocked for them to arrive to take me Home.

FROM HER:

LOL, Roo' is an amazing cat. Very much a people person, yet his whole heart belongs to his Mum and Dad, so rather than chance another harsh winter in Devon, he will be spending this winter with us in Scotland.

Last winter his Mum and Dad followed their usual arrangement of having someone feed him twice a day, but this year the caravan park will be closed for a long slice of winter and they wanted to make sure he would have a 'safe&warm'. The winters seem to be getting worse every year all over the UK, and last year Roo' had a bit of too hard a time getting through until his folks returned. They are very much CatPeople, Roo' knew what he was doing when he fell in love with them, lol!

They have three cats at their year-round home and would take Roo' there in a half heartbeat if they weren't worried his arrival would immediately break the heart of a 18+year old fellow who has been their lad since he was six weeks old. Sadly, the old fellow is likely seeing his last Autumn.

Next Spring Paul and I will return Roo' to Devon to reunite him with his Mum and Dad, whereupon he will go home with them at the end of their Spring Holiday to meet his new fur-sisters.

Until then, I like to think Mozart and Gonzo will not mind him borrowing their blog space to keep his fans and admirers (of which he has more than a few, the sausage raid is only the latest in a long string of wonderful scrapes he's inspired the Devonshire countryside with!) up-to-date while he enjoys what we hope will be a lovely posh holiday for him.

We're thinking of taking him round to Glen Shee for the skiing, and perhaps we'll think about the Munro tour-I think he'd like to be able to say he's done all seven when he returns to Devon next spring, lol!

2011-01-09T09:10:00.002-05:00

FINAL UPDATE:

Things did not work out for Mozart and Gonzo in south Alabama, and they have been rehomed at a forever home back in North Georgia.

Relations between Fox and me continue joyfully, however.

This will sadly be the last post on their blog. Fox and I will miss Mozart and Gonzo VERY much but their best interests are better served in a home with a people who is home all the time (Fox's schedule has him at the restaurant over 12 hours a day), a home with warmth and love.

Thank-you all who followed the adventures of two cats who were determined to find a forever home, two cats who went through some heartrending situations as they made their way into my life, Fox's, and now their new home. They've been with their new people for a couple of months and it is working out beautifully for them.

They will not be posting from their new home, though, so I wanted to let everyone know what has happened.

2010-11-25T04:58:00.002-05:00

Hmmmm.

Food-check

Comfort-check

Fox-check

Trip to our new home-sucky. he made us stay in the damn carrier the whole way. At least he was smart enough to put us in one carrier, he does listen to People, LOL!

It was very easy to say good-bye and good-luck to the codgie, she's staying with the foster-mom. Ick, she made BFF with the foster-mom's Dachshund (what a weird looking codgie, at least Gracie was ok to look at). We loaded up, and settled in for the trip, but Fox was so worried about us getting out of the car during stops he made us stay in the damn carrier. Then he made us stay in the damn bedroom for two days. Then he let us out of the damn bedroom, and now we are happy.

Except he doesn't have a computer??!! WOT?? He's got a PS3, why doesn't he have a computer??!! Luckily one of the many young ladies who visit left her laptop open, or I wouldn't be able to update all of you that Gozita and I are settled in. She's happy, he's got cable and she can catch up on Bloomberg TV. But no computer, so I, Mozart, could be lots happier. Hmph.

Dear Father Christmas, please tell People her stoopid son is OK but he needs to bring us more food from his hunting place (of course cats can eat cannelloni, d'uh!), and that he needs to get us a computer. And he needs to hook-up the web-cam so we can see People.

Hmph. Oh yeah, I've been a very good cat, and so has Gonzita.

2010-11-17T06:08:00.002-05:00

People and Paul have suggested we go to live with Fox, and I, Mozart, think that is a very good idea!

Fox, readers may recall, is the son of People (also known as Fox's Mom), and has been absent from People's life for a very long time. But last night he and People talked for a long time on the telephone, and things are worked out between them-Fox is going over to Scotland sometime this next Spring or Summer to meet his new step-father.

So, we are probably going to live in Fox's house in South Eats Alabama. I, Mozart, favour this idea highly because Fox is head chef at a Five-Star restaurant. YUM!

Gonzo is happy because she doesn't have to get more stabs, and then spend 22+ hours in the cargo hold of an airplane, then learn a whole new language. OK, I, Mozart, am happy for the same reason, but mostly the food, and I think I will really like living at Fox's house.

People is happy because she trusts Fox will be a good people for us to live with, and we will be still part of her life. People is not too happy because she will miss us, and because Fox rarely updates his FaceBook page (WOT??!!) and so she knows he will prolly not be too good about making sure I, Mozart, get to update my, erm, our blog. WOT???!!!

Hmph. We'll see about that!

2010-09-30T03:33:00.002-04:00

Whoa, People scared us VERY badly last week!

She emailed our foster-people that she was going to find us a new home because it would take so long to get us over the Scotland! I, Mozart was very-very-very mad and hurt and thought about running away when our foster-people opened the front door, but Gonzo said to wait and think about things.

People and Paul waited and thinked too, and we are trying again to get on a areoplane for Scotland. (Wot's a areoplane?)

I, Mozart, and little miss Gonzita are gonna have to have another round of stabby things (dammit) and a tracking chip put in us (I don't want another one of those things but if it gets us to Scotland, People, and Paul, OK.) Then we gotta have a bunch of white paper things written on, Green Papers and whatever they use for Green Papers in Scotland exchanged, then according to People, we will be stuffed into separate special areoplane travel crates and put on a areoplane to go to Scotland, People, and Paul.

People told us about all this before she left to get on her areoplane to go to Scotland and Paul. She said the special areoplane travel crates are different than the nice soft cozy travel crates she used to carry us to the V.E.T.-she said the special areoplane travel crates are bigger and made of hard plastic. Hmmm. She said the areoplane people wouldn't let me and Gonzita ride in the same special areoplane travel crates, either.

HMPH! I, Mozart do not like the idea of my little miss Gonzita being in a different special areoplane travel crate without me, Mozart. People said her areoplane trip would take at least 22 hours. I, Mozart do not like to think about being apart from my little Gonzita for that long, she might be scared.

HMPH! I, Mozart, do not like special areoplane travel crates.

I sneaked into the foster-people's email and emailed all of this to People, who emailed back:

My Darling, Darling Mozart!

I am so sorry for scaring you and Little Miss Gonzita, I only did it because I thought it would be better for you and her. But Paul could tell how unhappy I was, and then I had a terrible dream that you and Gonzo ran away and had terrible adventures Outside!

So we decided to find a way somehow to make it work for you and Gonzo to come to Scotland, we are trying very hard to get you two here as soon as we possibly can!

Be a good Mozart for Sami, your foster-people, PLEASE!! Do not run away to Outside, or let Gonzo run away to Outside, and hopefully very soon you will be immigrant Moggies (that's what cats are called in Scotland).

I love you, my Ginger Boy, and Gonzo, too!

People

PS-does Sami know you can hack her email??!!

2010-08-03T10:36:00.002-04:00

OH BOY!!

People has done it now!!

OK, very qwik catch-up...our New Years Eve pressie was a stoopid codgie. A woofer! We named her Gracie, and I, Mozart, love her very much although she can be very annoying sometimes. Gonzo loves Gracie too, and especially loves to get Gracie into trouble, hehe!

Meanwhile, People has been working for the Census Bureau but that's over now, and she is moving us to SCOTLAND, where the people talk even more funny than People. Hmmph. She has to leave us in some stoopid thing called qwarinteen for six months too, because she didn't put chips in all of us when we got our Shots.

HMPH!

People fell in love in the most modern way-she met a Scotsman on her peak oil forum. They first talked back and forth on the forum-that took up nearly a year and a half.

Then they started private messaging. That took up only about a month. Then they started using each other's private email, a really big deal because that implies HUGE trust.

Then he called her on the telephone. Sigh, Downhill to full-on love from there, they are getting married at the end of September.

HMMMMMMMMPH. And I, Mozart, little Gonzita, and that stoopid furbag Gracie will get to go to four-leg prison for six months.

People and Paul better have LOTS of pressies, and I'm not talking another stoopid furbag for when we gets outta the slammer, see!

2009-08-31T18:53:00.004-04:00

Frum the itteh bitteh doomer kitteh commiteh:

"PREPS, we haz 'em!"

People is on her holiday.

huh? Wot's holiday without Christmas trees for Gonzita to knock over?? OH! Right. I knew that. We are so used to the funny way People talks we forget she was raised talking funny and calling things funny thing. Like holiday, for vacation.

OK, back to PREPS. I, Mozart, very much like this PREPS thing. So much so that I hereby declare that PREPS shall always be fully capitalized in order to make clear the deep importance of PREPS.

People also very much likes LOLKats on www.Icanhazcheeseburger.com so we honor her by using the funny little kitty joke above.

You need to understand that while Gonzo is a rather tiny, itteh-bitteh kitteh, I, Mozart am a very large and healthy BIG cat Do. Not. Mess. With. Me. I am a Doomer Kat, or did you miss my bio in the early pages of this blog?

And after People's latest hunting trip, Gonzzie and I are very well PREPPED Doomers Kats.

As you also know from the earliest days of this blog, we have always been Doomer Kats, and have always been the proud feline possessors of well-stocked BOBs (bug-out bags to you noobs here). Once a month or so People checks the bags to make sure she can grab and go. We have her well trained, doncha think?

But today we hit the motherlode!! People keeps our kibble in one of those see-in boxes, she swears it's food-grade, whatever. We used to have a small one, it only held a couple of people weeks worth of kibble-not good in our opinion.

Chesire cat smiles, guess what People brought in today? Nah, you'll never guess. I'll just tell ya.

A REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLYYYYYYYY
BIG SEE-IN BOX!!! AND. THEN. PEOPLE. FILLED. IT. WITH. OUR. SPECIAL. BLEND!!!!!!!!

PREPS. We definitely haz 'em:):):):):):):):):):):)

2009-07-25T11:33:00.003-04:00

WOT??

People is going to make us crazy! She just finished writing up her plans for more Adventures in Remodeling!

We thought she was done!

Oh hardly.

Sigh.

Now that things at her Hunting Place have somewhat settled down she is feeling more confident and has just signed off the mortgage on The Tin Shack. Good, we thought, Gonzie and I, Mozart, finally some peace and quiet.

Honestly, we thought she would content herself with her newest enthusiasim-SFG (SquareFootGardening). The catnip is very nice when it is fresh:)

But no, the next Big thing to happen is stranger peoples are coming to level the house so we will be shuttled off to Dr. Dave's for two whole days the first week of September.

And before that she will be finishing off some work in the bathroom by pulling out those horrid power tools to tear holes in the bath room to create some more storage space. The tool bag is out, the crazy female people is gonna do it in a couple of hours! Hiding under the bed is not an option as the bath room and bedroom are practically in the same room.

Dammit.

Really, it is not fair. When she is finished we will be loony Kats. If she ever finishes. Gonzo is so upset she stopped being Monorail Cat and got on the couch with me where the AC hits right on her tiny little girl self, which she hates, but she is wroth with People so she got off the nice warm monitor.

Dammit, why can't People just do her SFG thing and let us live our lives??

I read her list-it is Big.

It is Noisy (people things are almost always noisy, why is that?).

It is Expensive (great, shorted on prezzies again), and will take her the next two years at the rate she gets things done by insisting on paying cash. Hey, we've only just barely got the Innerwebs and cable back!

We think she should win this lottery thing-Gonzo is working very hard at trying to figure out some good numbers that would win enough to cover the complete reno while we take a nice week at the spa, er, Dr. Dave's.

Yeah, win the lottery and Get 'Er Done, People!

2009-03-15T19:32:00.003-04:00

Mozart here, just wanted to let everyone know we'll be offline for a while. People is on another frugal kick, so she's shutting down the 'Net, cable, and (yeah, right) says she quitting smoking.

Works for me if she does, she smokes Outside and we don't like her to be here but not here. Gonzita and I aren't buying it though. We'll see.

Hehe, Gonzita! She hates it, the little furball brat, Gooooooooooooonnnnnnnzzzzzita!

Hehe, haha, lol, roflol, I guess we're even now on the Unca Molzart thing, muwahahaha!

People's washing machine is dying, and she wants to pay cash for a new one, plus she wants to do some more renovations on The Tin Shack, and she says now she is celery at her hunting place she doesn't get extra green papers for the many, many hours she puts it there. Dammitt, 'cause I was pretty well hooked on HBOF and Animal Planet.

But Gonzita is gonna hurt the most, she's hooked on some guy named Howard, or Clark, or something like that, maybe both, is it Howard Clark, or Clark Howard? Well anyway, she says he makes really good sense and is easier on the eye and ear than that Sooz Ormand or whatever person.

Poor Gonzita, poor People, poor peoples-People says this crunch is becoming viselike. We're OK, ok, we're giving up the frills, but the kibble is still premium, and the house was warm when we woke up, so it's all good.

Gonzita and I have each other, and we are asking Anubis to keep an eye out for People's son, hoping that Anubis will lead Fox home. Hey, Anubis is the protecter of ALL orphans and lost beings, two or four leg, right?

Well, take care of yerselves, efurbody, we'll miss ya!

2009-02-08T16:07:00.002-05:00

People has been soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo busy! But we forgive her, and today we are being extra careful to give her lots of attention because today is the second anniversery of Gator going to the Bridge.

Unca Molzart sez he doesn't really know much about Gator 'cept he was this ginormus old dog who died in the food 'damination thing (when Unca Molzart told me about that it put me off kibble for a while, lemme tell ya!).

Unca Molzart sez now that I am a year old Cat I have to stop using t'xt talk-pooey on you, Unca Molzart, not gonna happen! P'ff, he is trying to make me into some kinda little stuffed Lady, but I am still Gonzo, fer sure, OK, and I'm not inna big fat hairy hurry to 'grow-up' if it means sounding like a school teacher!

It's been soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo cold here, really!

People better get the central heat and air in or else we aren't gonna make it through another winter-Gonzo HATES cold! Still, Unca Molzart and People both say we shouldn't complain. So far (if I say it will I jinx us??) we have electric, so the heaters and the TV are on. People was really worried about the people that were hit the last couple of weeks by an ice storm (ICE STORM?? OMGsh!)up in Kentucky and Missouri. She kept saying that could happen to us-WOT??!!

So far People still has a Hunting Place, and the quality of our kibble has not declined, nor has our kitty litter. People had to go down a notch on the kibble she gives to the ferals and the abandoned cats, though.

Yuppers, two new cats have shown up, and they aren't ferals. Most of the neighbors have moved and they left their cats, their dogs-I'm like totally surprized they didn't leave their people kittens! I know peoples cn be pinheads, but wow, to just fling their fur babies out, man that's just wrong!

Dr. Dave is trying to help People find homes for the two that aren't feral, but they've already found homes for so many, and they are running out of nice peoples who can give furever homes. Plus the two Newbies are so freaked out that they won't let People catch them, heck the ferals were easier to catch!

At least the ferals have all had their shots 'n stuff, but one of the ferals is pregnant somehow (man, People is mad, 'cuz that one's ear is notched, and Dr Dave is scratching his head over that!) so People is trying to catch her (again!) to get her back to Dr Dave.

Speaking of Dr. Dave, purrrrrrrrrrrrr! He sez I'm too small to undergo 'sneezia so I would be spayed any time soon. Whew! Unca Molzart can barely remember his operation but he sez it was horrible and that it is worse for girl cats, so I just sooooooo am not in any big fat hairy hurry for that to happen!

Well, that's about it fur 'round here. Hope you are all staying warm, have lotz of good stuff to eat, and that yer peoples are OK at their Hunting Places so they can bring you good prezzies!

Me personally am hoping for a nice Spring so that People and her freinds can get the duck work done and the central hear & air installed. Man, now that will be D'Luxe!

PS-Wots duck work? Am I gonna have to share kibble and snuggles with a duck? Like that one on the TV that squacks "Aflack" all the time?? (Personally, I dunno wot that stupid duck sees in Ben Aflak anyways!)

PSS-Unca Molzart sez "Hey!"

2008-12-26T12:45:00.002-05:00

ROFLOL!

Gonzo is a girl cat. Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah!

I've been wondering when People would figure it out. I knew she has been paying attention to Gonzo and the lack of male behaviours (which until the last few days People has been chalking up to good luck) but not enough with the very busy schedule People had been keeping right up until Christmas Eve.

Oh this surely is the best joke on People in a very long time!

On Christmas Eve People started a twelve day holiday from work and has been resting the last few days, mostly on my couch.

Blissful little Gonzo has been right next to People the whole time while I have been perching on the lovely napping area/sofa back.

Now, you have to understand People has been away Hunting, Gonzo is rather ladylike even when she rolls over on her back, and after all, the first V.E.T. did say Gonzo was a boy cat. Of course, People did take us to a new V.E.T. but he hasn't really looked too close at little Miss Gonzo down there being too busy saving her from that nasty cold.

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahhaha

Now People understands why Gonzo was acting a little extra goofy a couple of weeks ago and why she was trying to start a fight with me whenever I got near her, and why Gonzo has not shown the slightest interest in that nastiest cat habit of spraying (which of course I do not do because I was neutered early enough to keep it from happening:)

Now People is trying to console herself for missing the obvious by telling herself the first V.E.T. did say Gonzo was male, that Gonzo is thick furred and has these little tufts down there that kinda look like, um, well, you know, and that she has been extra busy this past year...

From the look of People, she is not buying into her excuses.

Poor little Gonzo will be going to Dr. Dave for her spaying in the next month or so.

Muwahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!

2008-12-25T17:35:00.000-05:00

Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good life!

Seasons Greetings from Gonzo and Mozart

2008-12-04T18:48:00.002-05:00

"Molzie, 'ol pal, alls I kin say is, if it ain't good enuff fur People, it fur dang shure ain't good enuff fur us!"

The little Beggar (yes, with a capital 'B'), the wee fake!!

Now tap water is not good enough for him, and he dares bring me into the argument!

Hmph!

The latest Gonzo affectation began two weeks ago. People is verrrrrry careful to ensure our food and water bowls are full before she leaves for her Hunting Place

(Where, dare I say it, she has managed to retain her place, gain a slight promotion and raise, and best of all, regain her enthusiasim. Yippee, a bit more green papers so that she can bring me, er, us, prezzies!)

And she is also very attentive to our plaintive mewlings as she fumbles with the jingly-janglys to unlatch the door; she comes straight in and fills our bowls before she does anything more than put down her Hunting Bag. (She calls it a purse. Whatever.)

She is thick, but not so dim she missed the dry water dish.

Hmph! Dry because Brat, er, Gonzo had been tipping it over...

"HEY! I was gonna drink that!!"

Not to mention I DO NOT LIKE WET PAWS that I have not chosen for myself. Water is fun when I, Mozart want it. Otherwise, I, Mozart, DO NOT LIKE WET PAWS!!

"Get over it, hit the leaking tap. People drinks water outta the special water bowl, the strangely shaped one that has a top so I can't get in it even when I tip it over. It must be very special, because she trades green papers for it. So, we should have it too."

"People drinks bottled water because the pipes out here are old and made of lead which is bad and can make People very sick, and...ya know Gonzie, I think you're onto something. But must you tip out the water bowl?? My paws get all wet. Besides, do you think she will figure it out BEFORE I DIE OF THIRST??"

People really can be a bit thick sometimes.

Hmph.

I am not sure which of us is the more smug. I because I knew the 'strangely shaped water bowl with a cap' is a bloody bottle. Or Brat, er, Gonzo, who now thinks he is a genius because People only needed three Mozart & Gonzo water bowl tip-outs to figure out Gonzo wants bottled water.

To be honest, she only really got it because Gonzo caught on that he should splash it out in front of her if he really wanted to get her attention-she'd been thinking one of us had kitty diabetes and she was planning a trip to the V.E.T.-YIKESSS!

The third time worked, he tipped out the bowl in front of her horrified eyes just after she'd refilled it from the kitchen tap.

"Bloody HELL Gonzo! What are you...NO! STOP! GONZO! Dammit. What do you want, bloody bottled water?" And she poured us a bowl full straight from her bottle.

Which Gonzo immediately drank with obvious appreciation; I joined in with equal gusto-drinking as though I'd just come in from the Sahara.

Which caused People to laugh and say, "Oh alright, I guess if it isn't right for me to drink out of these taps, you two shouldn't be drinking from the taps either."

OK, so now we are enjoying much nicer water. Much nicer. Frankly, dear readers, the tap water here smells like the extra stuff People puts in the washing machine with the towels (she calls it bleach, we call it bleacck!) and some other wrong kinda smells I can't identify.

And LOL, no, ROFLOL, think that just a year and a half ago I didn't know what the water bowl was! I can dimly recall my sense of wonder that People had a special bowl of water for me-no more drinking from mud puddles and worse. Ah, how far one comes, when one is loved!

She had a thing on the kitchen tap called a filter, but the water still tasted funny, so I guess the Brat, er, Gonzo, has a good reason for his smugness-I, Mozart would likely never have thought of it on my own. But we are after all her entire reason for breathing, and therefore deserve the best of the best.

Enough about the Brat. Much more about I, Mozart, who can communicate realities to People with more subtle and graceful means. For Example:

People likes to give Kitty Flying Lessons if I try to remind her of the Important Realities (empty bowl, nasty litter box, my lack of new toys and total attention...), particularly if it happens to be the wee hours of the morning.

I, Mozart, at nearly 13 lovely (and all muscle, too) pounds, do not like Kitty Flying Lessons. Additionally and most importantly, I am wounded to the core when she refuses my reminders.

So thrice I have slipped past her as she comes in from The Hunting Place and punished her by being 'away' for hours.

How truly lovely it was to hear her plaintive calls into the cold and misty nights as I huddled under the porch in true sacrifice to teach her a lesson.

Well, the third time I did let her catch me right away because I slipped out into sleet-AAAAACK!

And the third time she got it-"Oh Mozart, you know, I think you try to run away when I've been cross with you waking me up two hours before the alarm!"

No, ya think? Sheez.

To be sure, I tested her, and sure enough, even groggy with sleep People got it-"Oh Moat, you poor thing, is your bowl empty?" But dang it, she just gave me a hug and tried to get me to lie down as she scratched behind my ears until I gave up and jumped down. At least the Kitty Flying Lessons have stopped. If Bast meant for us to fly we would be birds. Ohhh, fluttery things:)

But the minute the alarm when off, I was right back in her face...and she thanked me! Big hug, nice scritchings, then, ahhhhhhhhhhh, a nice fresh full bowl of the nicest organic kibble and reverse osmosis bottled water.

IN IS BETTER:)

OK, one last thing, our little Gonzo (who really is small, six pounds, tops) is now 13 months old. His one year First In Day is swift approaching, too, the 19th of December.

Nubis was really looking out for both of us, me and Gonzo. Bast should be very proud of her appointed Guardian of the abandoned, homeless, and orphaned. I love my little fur Brat, er, Gonzo, and am glad he is here. As I truly believe Nubis led me to People, so I, Mozart, believe he led our little Gonzo to People and me.

Purrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

2008-09-27T13:45:00.003-04:00

Hi efurbody! It's Me, Gonzo!

Unca Molzart is still under the bed-wait till he sees what People and the peoples have been up to!

We're having anothur "Abenchurs in Remodeling" weekend, and Peeps has ben BIZZY! We gots a freezer (mo' inna mo) and People got some of her people friends over to get the kitchen (finally!) back inna kitchen kinda shape.

They're all takin' a break 'coz it's People's friends' grand-daughter's third birfday. AND, Peeps left the CPU running so I am blogging::)) (Like I don't know how to turn on a monitor, really?)

We live in The Tin Shack on a North Georgia Mountain Side" so it ain't like we gots lottsa room here, but Peeps is pullin' it off!

They tore down the little bedroom wall next to the kitchen, built a wide doorway, left the wall between the former little bedroom and the hallway from the kitchen, so Peeps put the new freezer in the hall where it opens into the kitchen-smart People. Her contractor friend put two really nice (but not perfect or Me Gonzo, and him Molzart would be able to get up there!) shelves across the hallway over the freezer! Now Peeps has the fast food maker (yeah, whatever, Unca Molzart sez it's really called a "Microwave") on the first shelf, and her favorite cookbooks on the top one.

They putted the washing machine and dryer (mmmmm, dryer; last winter I couldn't wait to get big enuff to get up there!) where the little bedroom was, and shelves, and a hooky fing for Peeps to hang her jackets. (Which if Peeps had fur she wouldn't need, but oh well.)

When they come back frum the birfday party they is gonna finish the shelves AND put some shelves in the bafroom!

Now, mo' 'bout the freezer, and akchuly, mo' 'bout my TV preferenceseses.

1st a little background...People gots me, and Unca Molzart, and she gots two kittens, I mean people babies, but they is weaned and on their own.

Meaning Me and Unca Molzart ain't met 'em yet, an' meybe we won't never 'cuz People gots stoooopid kittens, I mean weaned people babies.

These stooopid people babies won't talk to their People, I mean Mom! (It happens, I've hurd, but I woodn't know 'cuz my mom an' me got aparted when the mean peoples threw us Out when I wuz a kitten. I wish I could see her, but I don't really fink that will happen.)

They are mad at her for being married to Crusty. (That's wot they all call People's Ex. I learned wot an Ex is from TV. I don't fink all Ex peoples are bad, but mostly they are. I fink.) And I fink that is really 2 bad, 'cuz hard fings are happening, and they are gonna need their mother.

People babies always need their mother, and I fink meybe that is a good fing. People sez "Hope Floats" and she is planning to be able to help her people babies if they efur show up.

Now, I like TV, a kit can learn lottsa stuff that is impornant if you live in a people's house. I like Sesame Street 'cuz I am learning to read and how nice peoples act.

But, sum of TV is scary, even if, and meybe especially if, it is impornant stuff like wot is happening in Really Far-Off Places called "The Middle East" and "Wall Street", and wot is happening with the Econonominy and who is gonna be Top Cat, I mean President.

Bottom line is (I learned that watching Tim Russert. I miss him. People sez he went to Heaven.) Bottom line is, fings ain't good in hunting places for all kinds of peoples, not just our People, and fings are getting wurs-People looks really worried about getting sumfing stinky-nasty called Gasoline that she puts in her fing called a car that I don't like even if we do get to go places init.

She needs the Gasoline to get to her Hunting Place, where she hunts The Green Papers peoples call Money. The Money is wot she takes to the people food hunting place called The Grocery, and she trades it fur Food.

OK, she takes The Money to lottsa places and trades it fur lottsa fings-my persunal favorite is the Paper Place, 'cuz she gets that stuff that I usta play with in the bafroom until she figgured out I wood not "out-grow" doing, so now she shuts the door when she goes to the Hunting Place.

People and the peoples were talking while they worked on the Tin Shack, and they are gonna get five gallon Gasoline cans. GOOD! If this Gasoline is so impornant, they will need to keep it around, 'cuz CnnMoney sez the shortages are gonna continue, and Me Gonzo persunally finks it will last at least thru the winter.

OK, now People keeps this to herself mostly, but she visits this site about Peak Oil, and the peoples on there have been predicting this Gasoline problem fur a long time.

Those peoples also predict that with Gasoline shortages will come (YIKES) food shortages-if the giant cars called trucks can't get Gasoline, the giant cars called trucks can't bring the food.

So People broke down and traded wot is pretty much her total saved up Green Papers, I mean Money, for a five cubic foot freezer.

And once she showed the neighburs the Peak Oil site, they got together in People's house and decided to form a community.

Nuffink is purrfect, but they have a good start. People sez nuffink is carved in stone, so peoples don't have to feel pressured-she sez "We are NOT going Socialist!" (I gotta find out wot "Socialist" is!)

People is trading Halloween (my furst, I am soooo excited-People sez I am a purrfect Halloween cat 'cuz I am after all a Tuxie-I've been practicing sitting in the kichen window next to the electric pumpkin) costume sewing fur the neighbur kittens, I mean people babies. She is gonna be making all of the people babies winter clothes, too, to trade back fur all the help getting the house finished before fings get bad or cold. (Cold IS bad.)

She is also agreeing to do other fings, like help with fall and winter gardens, running pick-ups at the Medicine place on her way home from the Hunting Place, helping with neighburs "Abenchurs in Remodeling", and other stuff like Neighburhood Watch.

The peoples are all trading wot they have and know wiff each ofur-ain't no peoples gonna sit back and watch another peoples garden or clothesline get robbed, house get broked open and all the Food stolen, babies be cold in the winter, peoples not being able to get Gasoline to go to their Hunting Places, live wiff broken stuff, or be hungry.

Oh yeah, they are catching all the Ferals and getting them to the V.E.T for shots, deworming, and (gasp!) somfing they said is "Selective Sterilization" 'cuz they know ya gotta have sum kittens! They are keeping some of the Ferals that want to be In, and building shelters for the ones who don't wanna be In. The peoples figgur if they take care of the Ferals the Ferals will hang around and keep the rodents off.

People sez during Hard Times rodents can kill off nearly an entire population with Plague. She's right, I saw that on The History Channel. No rodents mean safe water, safe food, no frees, I mean fleas, means no nasty population killing.

People can be scary sumtimes. But she is right. Unca Molzart sez he really doesn't know how he survivied being Out 'cuz he was sick and there4 weak. He wuz sick 'cuz he couldn't get to a V.E.T or live in a safe warm house and eat good healthy food.

I learned about the conection between sumfing called Pofurty and unstable populations on C-Spann, and how if peoples come together in communitites, the efex of Pofurty is lessened. The peoples work together, and they share food, shelter, and other fings called resources (like wot they have and know), and peoples aren't as hungry, or sick, or scared.

It's a start.

I'm tired, and need a nap. Bye!

2008-09-07T11:48:00.002-04:00

People's noise is still ringing in my ears! But the minute I heard her putting away the damn toolboxes I could not wait to get out from under the bed and tell her what ELSE I heard while I was under the bed.

(I do not like tool boxes. Tool boxes are vastly over rated.)

It took until this morning-four long mornings and nights of me and Gonzo going bonkos while standing just over the spot where they had their little nest (People can be a bit thick) but she finally got it and she lured them out from under the house this morning.

Good thing too, because the man peoples are coming next weekend to raise and level the Tin Shack. I heard them saying they would put new and stronger screens in the vents-TO KEEP THE CRITTERS OUT!!

Whew!

Gonzo and I got to look at them this morning through the window, and I have to say that even I was touched by the cute little kittens, and that now that I know why their mother has been begging at the back door, I can't begrudge her a share of our food. Pretty much. As long as People keeps the canister full.

The best part is that People told one of our neighbours (who is going to take one of the kittens) that as soon as she can get the whole litter and their mom to trust us, she is going to carry the lot to Dr. Dave, who is going to give her a good deal on spaying/neutering (poor Kittens and Mom), stabs, (POOR KITTENS and MOM!) and wormey gack (POOR, POOR KITTENS and MOM!!).

Now, I have known the mom cat for a long time, and she is OK except she fights too good and I had a really hard time running her off back when we were both OUT and hungry, and People was feeding us while taking care of Gator the woofie in his last days.

That mom cat has been hanging around since I came In and People sometimes gives her some of mine and Gonzo's food-HMPH!

People and the neighbours call her Bandit (good reason there, too) and she is always about to have another litter. So I guess it is a good thing Dr. Dave is going to fix her so she doesn't ever have to worry about being able to feed her kittens because she won't be having any anymore.

But, GULP, is People gonna move her in here?! Can't we keep the little tortise shell one?? Can't we find Bandit another In place??

Please?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

2008-08-30T07:25:00.002-04:00

Oh joy. People has the next three days off, and she is already getting out the tool boxes to continue her goal of winterizing.

Swell. I'll be under the bed until Tuesday.

2008-08-24T09:30:00.002-04:00

People got an attitude adjustment. We think.

Her hunting place is improving and she is happier, but she is not very good about coming online, and we have been working on her for days and weeks. 'coz we need to blog, ya know!

She also needs to drop off that roll of film, hmmmm, will she? She has been very frugal and has been keeping busy clearing out the clutter instead of doing more important things like shopping for Gonzo and Mozart prezzies!

Lately People has been talking about something called Fung Schway which she also calls Hong Kong Fooey. So I got Gonzo to Google it (why should I when Gonzo gets such a kick out of it and is truthfully much better with search engines than me or even People, who has boolean search down to a science!).

Holy Moly! People has been moving things (we like the new arrangements, it 'feels' better, so maybe this Hong Kong Fooey stuff isn't so fooey after all) and cleaning things and sprucing things and meditating in between.

Now, as Cats, we certainly understand meditation, and have spent many pleasurable afternoons meditating with People. We have even learned that she doesn't so much fall asleep as she goes very, very deep. Which means we should not attempt to get her back on track by sticking our whiskery faces under her nose to make sure she is still breathing because People still thinks it acceptable to give Kitty Flying Lessons when her, ah, concentration is broken...

The only prezzie she has got me, er, us, in the past few months is a box that the new microwave came out of. Hmph.

Gonzo has lost his fascination for CNBC and is now into HGTV as he tries to understand why People locks us in the bedroom when she is doing winterizing (a new term learned from HGTV). It has helped too that she showed us something from another cat blog about some kittens who got into spray foam insulation-People doesn't need to lock me up, when I see her pulling out the tool boxes I go straight to the bedroom and get under the bed!

Gonzo however is the fiercest older kitten I have ever known, and I wonder at it because I was Out much longer than he was, but he will fight-really fight-over a scrap of anything, food, toy, dust bunny...so he just HAS to get into everything to see if he would be able to play with it or eat it or both.

He will be one years old on 5 November, I will be THREE-hehe, the vets read my chip wrong, HAHAHAHAHA-in January! Interesting what 1 little number being misread will bring up:)

Also, I have been declassified as both terminally ill and a Maine Coon-WOOHOO!! Well, happy-happy-joy-joy on the not gonna die next week thing anyway, I rather enjoyed being a Maine Coon Cat if only for a short while.

Turns out I am just a huge Ginger-ordinary-regular-nothing special ('cept to People and my friends) Cat. And I am huge, pushing twenty solid packed pounds, me:) No fat on me, Kats, just 18 pounds of big healthy Cat-Yea for me and for People who didn't like the new vet so she is now the old vet and I have a great new vet who thinks I am pretty special 'coz I managed to get myself through being abandoned TWICE, and living through the trials of being Out for nearly two years on my own.

I was born in a people's house, dumped at the shelter, neutered, adopted then taken back to the shelter then adopted AGAIN and then abandoned in the middle of winter by People's neighbour.

Then I picked People, and I have been safe since April 1st 2007. But I am a little weird because of everything, and only People and peoples like her could make me feel safe-I've got some strange habits. Like I didn't know what water was if it was in a clean bowl and not in a mud puddle or thrown out cup, and I'm just not really big on being held (oh, Gonzo loves being held-go figure!), and when People gives us meat scraps Gonzo will go all feral acting (the faker, how long was he Out, a whole week maybe??) and he'll steal mine, which doesn't bother me at all. BUT let him get near my sourdough bread crust and I will tear him from one end of the tin shack to the other!

So People figures I must have been eating out of the trash bin alot, and since bread was mostly what ends up in that bin (People looked, she wanted to see what I would have been getting back in the day), she feels I must have a bread thing as my particular 'comfort food'. Suits me, keep it coming, People! She did buy a damn stainless steel breadbox to keep me out of the bread. Dammit.

Regarding the heart thing, the new-new vet (who has his head screwed on very straight since he says I do not have to take that stoopid medicine for now) says I am fine and he thinks the reason everyone thought I had heart problems was because I was so scrawny when People took me in and it did kinda make me sick, and when they looked at me they could tell I was underweight for my bone size and my coat was in such bad shape that it stuck out...well, it all combined to confuse two vets, but I am fine now, and that is what counts.

OK, People and Dr. Dave are gonna keep a watch on me 'coz I did have those problems, but Dr. Dave says I should be fine and we all just have to pay attention, which is not a problem in my mind as long as I don't have to have that stoopid medicine gunk!

Gonzo would blog a bit but he is helping People wash the curtains-he is taking them down for her, lol, and she is putting them in the washer because they were a little dusty. I know he knows what he is doing because he only jumps up and get the tension rods to drop when the washing machine thingie stops.

That Gonzo! Two Thursday (we have been learning the calendar while People tries to figure out what was happening to me while I was Out) nights ago he found a great big scorpion in the bathtub! People almost fainted because little Gonzo (he is bigger now, but only weighs 'bout eight or nine pounds, so to me and compared to me, he is still 'little') would NOT get outta there and was trying very hard to get himself a whopping does of scorpion venom, but People grabbed him out, slammed the bathroom door and pounded that damn scorpion into the bathtub floor-eeeeeeeewwwwwwwwww, she had to throw several Clorox wipe over the mess, pull on three pairs of disposable gloves AND wrap her hands in several plastic bags before she could bring herself to get it up, very nasty and acrid (I love learning new words) pulp mess, yuck.

Well, that is the latest on our Adventures, hope People will let us catch up on yours!

2008-06-12T19:45:00.002-04:00

HMPH!!

People gets poor little Gonzo all excited about his chance to perhaps display Picasso like artistic talent (and me a bit enthusiastic about watching the little brat get up to his gonzo antics:) and then she locks him in the bedroom!

Poor Gonzo! He didn't get a paw near any paint this past weekend, and People is puttering around pleased as I've ever seen her about the private little Adventures In Remodeling she enjoyed sans Gonzo's assistance.

In part, she tells disappointed young Gonzo, he brought it on himself when he tried to help her apply foam insulation Friday evening.

In part she got the idea from one of the comments.

And yes, I, Mozart was also banished right along with Mr. Curiosity.

Hmph!

I gave up painting the last time. But Gonzo really enjoyed it. He spent a lot of time letting the paint dry on his paw while watching the marks he made on the floor dry.

Being the strange little fellow that he is, he did not mind at all when People washed his paw in the kitchen sink, oh hell no, he jumped up and got in the sink as soon as People left for Hunting. He is trying to turn the water on, and if People gets the new tap she is admiring on the Lowes site, he will have the water on all day while she is Out...the knobs so far have defeated Gonzo, but the lever will be (pardon not the pun:) will be a push-over for him, LOL! (And you thought Gonzo was the only hip one around here!)

Now, our little Gonzo knows how to pull the TV Remote out of the basket People keeps it in so she doesn't sit on it and drain the magical power source she calls batteries.

Grand Master Gonzo knows how to turn on the TV because through experimenting he has determined the location of The On Button!

And, (drum roll...wait for it...) he knows which is The Scroll Button!

So he knows that if he pulls the Remote out of the basket and nudges it to the same spot on the sofa and steps on The On Button and then steps on and off The Scroll Button, he can finally arrive at CNBC.

I ask you, what can he find so interesting on CNBC? Not to denigrate the channel, but People doesn't watch it, why does he??

Because there is more to our young Gonzo than txt tlk & painting. Hmmm

2008-06-03T19:32:00.003-04:00

FINALLY!

People needs an attitude adjustment, she really does! How long has it been since our last post, I ask you, how long??

Very Nearly Two Months!

Really People, you could have snuck us into the library!

Well, maybe not Gonzo, who is living up to his name in myriad ways, but I, Mozart, am fully a gentleman, really I am! I certainly know how to behave in a library!

(Wot's a library? Unca Molzart is in the litter box, so Me, Gonzo, haza chance 2 blog. NUTS, HERE HE COMES!!)

Hmph! Gonzo should know better...where was I?

Ah yes, a diatribe against People, who has been a great trial to two young cats these past few months!

Well, let me tell you that she has her good days (during which she understands and accepts her 24/7 duty to shower me especially with lavish displays of her devotion to me, er, us) and her bad days (during which for a telling example, she refuses to top off our food bowls, telling us to finish the food already there-two hours old, eeew!)

She is patiently hunting a new hunting place, but I think she really hopes her current hunting place will turn around.

(I don't know, maybe a fresh stock of mice and birdies...ooooo, fluttery things! Yes, fluttery things that magically become green papers she uses to trade for our kibble and toys, yes, that would be my thoughts on turning her hunting place happy again!)

OH ALRIGHT GONZO! Hmph! I reluctantly turn the keyboard over to The Brat-

FINALLY! I thought ol' Unca Molzart would never shut-up, lol!

Me, Gonzo is 7 munths old now, so I am learning to txt-tlk, hehe*G*! Peepole downloaded a hol artacul on txting 4 me so I culd practice. Me Gonzo haznt got enuff practice, but I am trying!

Unca Molzart 'n Peepole 'n me r having "Advenchures in Remodeling", I got 2 paint with a pretty green paint but then Peepole covered up my work, which I got insulted by-HEY Peepole, it wuzn't poop, ya no!

This wknd Peepole is gonna let me paint wif something called lowvoc hi glos white in all the kitchen cabinets! Well, she dozent no yet that she is gonna let me, but I'm gonna.

& the men peepoles r coming over to levul the house, 2, so we r gonna learn lotsa new words-Unca Molzart sez the last time the men peepoles were here he learned lotsa new words...

Well, we're gonna go vizit some other cat blogs, and say "Hullo!" to some of the cats we've been missing!

Os & Xs from Me, Gonzo!

Oh, what a happy half grown kitten he is! People will have to be more strict with him. Sigh.

We are very happy to be back in the 'sphere! Don't forget to play the fish game before you go:)

2008-04-12T18:57:00.002-04:00

To the friends of Gonzo and Mozart, a message from the boys:

"People is being very froogle and 'Netting from the library, Gonzo is unhappy because the magic stick doesn't work to turn on the TV anymore, which is because People had the service suspended for a month or two while she gets things at her hunting place straight.

We don't like it, but there it is.

Thank-you to everyone who has stopped in and checked on us-we are OK, just
reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaalllllllllllllly bored with nothing to do at home now while People is at the hunting place. People's eyeballs leaked about all the purrayers. OK, ours did, too, thanks, Kats!

On the plus side, we are having lots of home remodeling adventures! We will make People post some pictures, you won't believe what our little Picaso can do with his paws and high gloss white paint. I think my work with the satin Granny Smith green paint is rather nice too.

We both are grateful to People that she photographed our rather splendid work before, HUMPH, "fixing" it.

Well, People said she had to do something called post resumes in addition our update and that she would only have an hour, so we made this short enough to keep her from losing her computer time before sending off those resume thingies.

Don't worry, Bast willing (and People's God guy willing, too), we'll be back soon.

Mozart and Gonzo"

From People:

Mozart is a rat, but it is true that I did become watery eyed, thank-you all for being so great to us.

People

2008-03-23T10:52:00.002-04:00

Happy Easter to everyone, I hope your peoples got the Easter Bunny to leave you great baskets!

People got the EB to leave us some nice treats and new toys, we are very happy to have had the unexpected treats-I'll post the pictures as soon as People gets the CVS guy to do the films.

Gonzo is very nearly back to himself and is running me ragged. Thank-Nubis and Bast!

People is trying to find a new hunting place but I think she is going to have a hard time. Gonzo has figured out how to turn on the TV (and switch the channels around) while People is at her hunting place and for some reason the brat likes to watch the financial news channels!

So day in day out lately I've had to listen to scared, angry, and lying (as you all know, cats can tell when peoples are lying) peoples talk about this thing called the recession.

I have complete faith in People as does Gonzo, but this thing they call money is a concern to People, and she is trying to cut back where she can.

She promises the 'Net will be the last to go, and Gonzo was relieved because that means he'll be able to watch CNBC; she isn't going to cut back on our food, but she says we'll have to make our Easter prezzies last...

Purrs going out to all cats whose peoples are facing similar.

2008-03-12T19:50:00.004-04:00

Gonzo had gone and got himself an URI, and we've had quite the time of it the last week and a half.

Right now the brat is ensconced on People's lap, wrapped in a Snugli, and when he wakes up, looks quite pleased with his own self.

Humph!

I've endured much in my short life, but the pampering that little furball is getting is really nearly too much.

First of all, we had to endure another nasty ride in the damn cat carriers to the V.E.T., and I for one would like to know why I, Mozart had to go along!

I would also like to know I have to be stabbed over and again, while the brat lay listlessly in the arms of all three of the damn V.E.T. techs being cooed over while I, Mozart was the suffering one.

(Well, and People, who said we were all going to end up living in the car if we didn't stop having Abandonded Kitty Health Issues-where would she put the cat box?)

AAAAACK! If I hear one more people fall all over themselves in the race to hold the "Poor Baby!" I think I will have to bite or scratch someone.

Thankfully, People knows cats, and she made it clear to me that I, Mozart, am The Cat; really, she is quite fair in her snuggle giving. And OK, when either People or myself hears poor little Gonzo sneeze, cough, or mewl in that weak voice he's had the last week or so, well, don't we both go running to check him? Which leads me to another...

HUMPH!

By the time Gonzo is all better (and really, although he looked awful-felt awful and scared People and me silly, he is going to be fine. Brat is getting better every single day, thank Nubis and Bast, and OK, People's God guy), he is going to be SPOILED!!

And truth be told, Gonzo was getting pretty spoiled before he got the stupid cold. Wait, don't believe me? Lemme find that picture of the little model-HE POSES!

"ANYTHING THAT OLE'RCA PUP CAN DO, ME, GONZO, CAN DO CUTER!"

See what I mean? But wait, there is more-that brat is mighty proud of his baby blues!

OH! Gotta go, Brat is awake, and tottering toward the food bowl. I have to make sure he eats all his special food for sick little brat kittens. And then I will make sure People gives him his special juice for sick little brat kittens-my personal favorite part, 'cuz People takes this longgggggggg plastic tube, and wraps Brat in an extra thick towel, and puts on what she calls "Hawk Gloves" (People knows some scary birdeys that I, Mozart hope never to see again!) and then she....

2008-03-01T09:14:00.003-05:00

People is in a reeeeeeeeally bad mood right now. Somebody named Blondie turned in her resignation (wot's a resignation?) after taking People's favorite hunting, I mean work, function three weeks ago, and going to the training People was supposed to go to until Blondie took her hunt, I mean work, away. People is maddest because this Blondie told lies that People wasn't doing the work right, but all of the vendors (wot's a vendor?) People worked with called the bigger boss and told them they needed People instead of Blondie because Blondie is an idiot who can't even send a fax right (wot's a fax?).

People should have clawed Blondie's eyeballs out. Cats know how to deal with problems.

Now People is going to come back behind the loop on the new system, and she is not happy.

People says last week peoples she works with were avoiding her in the halls, but Friday after this Blondie gave her notice all of a sudden the peoples talked to her.

People says she took names during the freeze-out, but that she is not a vindictive People. But People says now she knows who believes lies instead of the hard hunting, I mean work, People had been doing for two years!

Peepole sez HMPH!! (Gonzo sez it's not fair that Unca Molzart sez this is all I get to type today. HUMPHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH)

Gonzo and I say People really can be too nice. She shudda clawed Blondie's eyeball out, or at least notched her ear.

Cats know things. I, Mozart know that I personally do not like this Blondie because she is People's boss, and she made People stop working any overtime, so we don't get any dangly things, or fluttery things very often any more. Maybe I Mozart should claw, never mind.

Cats know things. Like how to deal with interlopers (that are not cute little stubby tailed kittens a week before Christmas, I think that is a rule.), and how to look good in pictures:) Yup, People finally figured out how to focus and how to use the red-eye. Now all we have to do is teach her how to frame shots better.

Behold:

2008-02-08T19:35:00.000-05:00

Mozart and Gonzo have graciously permitted me to borrow their blogspot tonight to let you all know that they are fine, the long space in posting has been my fault. My job has been especially difficult the past couple of months and I come from work ready to collapse. If I've any energy to use the computer, it is all work, work, work, except for the rare 'grr' moment on my blog to vent.

The boys seem to understand that all the computer time has been reserved for the work related situation, although Gonzo is such an enthusiast he tries to type with me no matter what page I'm on:)

Tonight is especially difficult for me as it is one year practically to the minute that Gator passed (2111 ET). I miss him terribly, and I am so glad Mozart and Gonzo have chosen to share their lives with me-it helps a lot. Sometimes, like tonight, I'm afraid I'm not the best company, but they still love me.

Thank-you all for being such great friends to the boys. I promise to be better about letting them update their blog from now on.

Gator, 24th May 1994 to 8th February 2007. I do miss you, old man.

2008-01-06T15:03:00.000-05:00

**KOOL STUFF ALERT-Shark Break mini-widget at bottom of this post (Thank-you Top Cats!) Play, it is the ultimate Cat game!**

I, Mozart do not think it is a very good Happy Birthday to have to go to the V.E.T.

I, Mozart, made sure People and the new V.E.T. person knew I was not happy.

I, Mozart, however, did not leave bitey or scratchy marks on any of the peoples. But I did try to break their eardrums!

Hmmph!

Gonzo, on the other hand, was very calm, and well behaved, and then, after his weighing, exam, blood letting, and sticks with the jabby things, crawled back into the damn cat carrier and fell asleep. He even sleeped right through all of my blood curdling howls. Whatta goober!

What happened is this...

My old V.E.T. said we should go to a new V.E.T. who has more experience with my cardio thing. He (traitor) also said I should get my annuals since it is gonna be my birthday in a few weeks.

Plus my Christmas present, Gonzo, should be seen.

So yesterday People put our special pink blanket into a damn cat carrier (we now have three-1 Gonzo totally trashed the first few days, so I think People should cart it to the Outside cat buffet she calls the dumpster, and the two new ones she got to replace the one Gonzo trashed.).

I knew something was up, but couldn't resist following stooopid Gonzo when he went to investigate, and the next thing we knew, we were strapped into the car, and were driving away from HOME!

I told the little goober we were probably going to the V.E.T. and we both got really quiet.

Then we got to the new V.E.T. place. Then we got into the 'xam room. THEN People unzipped the cat carrier door, and they took Gonzo and they weighed him, and they jabbed him and sucked some blood out of him, and oh horrors, they stuck that awful hooky swabby thing in his...I can't go on.

He was very good-they kept telling him that. They got done, and put him back on the table and he crawled back into the damn cat carrier (which was looking very good to me, and I was trying to get in there too, BUT) then THEY GRABBED ME

AND THEY,

THEY,

It was awful!

Poor Mozart.

Oh the indignity of it all!

And all this happened BEFORE we meeted the new V.E.T.!

Who was pretty nice, and told People that Gonzo is so tiny because he was probably a little younger than six weeks old when he showed up on the 19th of December 2007, so he is just now eight weeks-she said that because he weighs two pound exactly. All his test they could do at his young age came back negative, but because he is a In from the Out kitten, we will have to watch out for him.

She said she thinks Gonzo was probably born missing his tail because although she can't tell for sure, it doesn't look like a traumatic amputation, probably born in the woods since he was wandering around at so young an age, and is really smart to have found People.

People felt terrible and said if she'd realised how young Gonzo was she would have brought us to the V.E.T. sooner, so Gonzo could get some extra boost from milk replacement, or something.

The V.E.T. said Gonzo is fine, and since he is doing really well, milk replacement probably isn't something he needs. (Darn I think that would have been a nice treat for me, too!)

She said she didn't hear anything from my heart or lungs, so I am probably doing nicely, 'specially since all my tests were negative except (oh how embarassing) I have worms, and she doesn't want to let those take hold 'coz of my stoopid cardio thing.

People almost fainted! The new V.E.T. asked if I went Out-HAHAHAHAHA-doesn't she know In Is Better??!! Then she said, well, has he caught any mice?

Well, I don't like to brag, but before Thanksgiving I did catch a really stooooopid field mouse who thought he should move into Mozart's house before winter. I tried to give it to People, but she THREW IT IN THE TRASH!!

So, when she went Hunting the next day, I got it out, and ate all of it except the head.

Which I couldn't get back into the trash bin, so People found it and freaked out and now she takes the trash Out every single morning. Hmmph!

People told the new V.E.T. about it, and that's probably where I got the worms, from fleas on the mousey.

I don't like mousey anymore. Besides, when People saw my catch she freaked out, and went all over the house, and all around the Outside, and sealed all the mousey-get-in places.

The V.E.T. told People these things happen, and said she was gonna give us Revolution, so we could be safer from fleas, and then she said, "OK, let's give Mozart a deworming, and she

shot

this

yellow stuff

down my throat,

twice!

AND

I have to go back in three weeks to make sure all the worms are gone

AND for more tests!

Hmph!

But Gonzo gets some more, too. Sheesh, Gonzo will probably still be in the damn cat carrier-he likes it, the goober!

But finally we wented home, and People pulled the special pink blanket out of the carrier, and here is pictures of me on it so you can see why it is so hard to resist-GOT TO LOVE MICRO-FIBER! (Poor People, this was her 2007-2008 winter house robe until I, Mozart, claimed it!)

2008-01-04T17:30:00.000-05:00

OK, TA DA! (We hope:) People got the CD from CVS. She installed the free photo editor (People likes that it is user friendly, and free, and fun, and free, and not bad @ $2.99 for the CD and the free software. Hang on Kitties, she may just try real photo editing software-but first she's gotta get a little better with the camera...The pictures are not perfect. But, look for the reddish blob-that will be I, Mozart! Look for the black and white mini-blob. That will be Him, Gonzo...

I, Mozart, am a big cat, yes?

Gonzo has doubled in size from when these pictures were taken. He is still Mini-Gonzo:)

Way to go, People! Now, um, learn to focus a bit better, and frame the shots better, and USE THE RED-EYE feature of yer fancy new camera, huh?!

Another shout-out to CVS fer givin' Peeps the free software so's she could fix his eyesballs, but honest, Unca Molzart's eyesballs ain't so weird looking in real life, LOL, luv, GONZO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

GONZO, quit that!

2008-01-01T19:28:00.000-05:00

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

People took a nap after dinner last night so she could be awake at Midnight. Gonzo and I played 'climb on and jump off the People mound' and People was so tired she didn't wake up until nearly ten-thirty!

So, she staggers around the house for a while getting things ready, almost falls back to sleep, then at midnight goes Outside-JUST WHEN I, MOZART, NEED HER THE MOST!

All the crashy-boomies!

Oh the noise!

The loud, crashy, boomy, NOISE!! It was terrible, and so was the crinkly sound that happened right after the boomy noise!

I tried to keep People from going Out there-In Is Better, People!

But she said everything was "OK, Mozart, honest, it's just New Year! Remember, kind of like Fourth of July!"

Hmph. People has a VERRRRRY short memory-I, Mozart did not like Fourth of July either!

When she came back in I was careful to ignore her for an hour, and I was very glad that I am an American cat so I did not have to remember her on Boxing Day since she is not very good Staff if she goes Out when I need her. Hmph!

Gonzo and I are doing well, other than our New Year Noise upset. GONZO! QUIT THAT! YOU'VE LOCKED THE KEYS ON

MY TURN MY TURN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!OOOOOO, I like that if I paw 1 key and hold it makes the same pictchur for a loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong time.

Wait, wait, Unca Molzart! Where ya goin? OK, ok, u kin hav the thingy bac.WAITWAITWAITWAIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!OMgsh that is sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo fun!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!OK< OK< Gonzo is done.

Finally! Drat that kitten! I think I'll go give him bath...

2007-12-28T17:16:00.000-05:00

Me gots a Name!

I is Gonzo!

Unca Molzart's Peepole gived me a Name!

I is now GONZO!

Its Unca Molzart's turn to type now.

I would ask "What is a Gonzo?" except I was sitting on People's lap when she Googled 'gonzo' to make sure she understood the term our Christmas Visitor used to describe The Kitten Who Needs A Name.

Gonzo is gonzo, a gonzo kitten, so Gonzo it is for the kitten formerly known as The Kitten Who Needs A Name.

I am not quite done being a kitten myself, but I, Mozart was never gonzo, not like this little wild man who has moved in to disturb our peace and totally knock us over with his full-tilt careen through life. People says falling out of a tree ina squirrel nest may have affected my sense of what is fun. (She saw it happen, I didn't know that, but she did. It was before I got In, while I was still Out.)

Plus, he is funny.

I, Mozart, Googled 'gambol' to make sure I was using it right. As long as I can stay out of his way, this kitten's gamboling is hilarious!

Plus, he wags his stubby tail.

He is too cute. My nose is sometimes out of joint, but People knows cats, and she makes sure I have plenty of reassurance that I am The Cat.

I am so cooool that I just watch Gonzo eat, instead of trying to get his kitten food. (Besides, he peed in his water dish-eeeew! People cleaned it out, but...)

People finished her first roll of film. She will drop the film off tomorrow during her weekly food-hunt trip, and the CVS will give her a CD to go along with the paper pictures so that she can upload our pictures for you to see us. We like seeing all the pictures on our fellow cat blogger pages, and we want in on the fun!

More later, Gonzo has his tiny face deep in the trough, so I am going to try for a nap...Maybe when I wake up he'll have learned to talk well enough that he will lose the 'Unca Molzart'

Do I look like a mole??

2007-12-23T18:34:00.000-05:00

Gee, thanks Santa!

People says Santa (who's Santa?) came early. HMPH!

But I feel better now about my 'present' that this Santa guy dropped off five days ago. It took me three days to stop hissing and growling at it. Can you guess what I got for Christmas?

It took two more days before I would play with my Christmas present.

But I did, I am, I will. Have you guessed yet?

It needs a name.

People keeps asking me what it's name is, but she doesn't listen, so People will have to work really hard to come up with our kitten's real name by Christmas.

But I still think Santa should have brought the kitten In, instead of dropping him off in the front yard at O Dark Thirty on a cold, wet, and windy North Georgia morning. (Maybe I don't like this Santa, after all, if he thinks it is OK to drop off Christmas presents that are teeny tiny little black and white kittens with their tails two thirds cut off-that's right, this little guy came with a stub!)

People brought him in, chucked him in the bathroom, left him some of my food and water, and my baby litter box. (HMPHH!).I was NOT happy!

She told me he was just wandering around the front yard squalling at the top of his lungs (I knew that-I'd been listening to the brat for two hours at least!) and she couldn't leave him out there alone at 0500, could she? I was not happy!

This little guy squalled all day while while People was gone. I was not happy.

People came home from hunting and told me that she would find him a home, honest. I was NOT happy!

She put him in my damn carrier for the night. I was not happy!

I was not happy the next day, or night. People said she was having a little trouble finding someone to take him. I was kinda surprised, 'cuz he is pretty cute.

I got kinda curious the third day, and I talked to him. He said he had peoples, but they thought kittens should be Out, and they weren't very nice, 'coz they stepped on his tail, and it fell off, but they still put him Out.

People said that she heard from one of the neighbours that the other neighbours up the hill on the other side had a kitten go missing that had lost his tail as a really little kitten after they stepped on it. They put it Out when the bleeding stopped. They said they don't want him back, if he is still alive. They think a wolf got him.

I know those peoples, they aren't very nice to cats. So I think I know Kitten's mom. She isn't too bad, but she and I fought alot when I was still Out, mostly for food. Especially after People started putting food out for me. Well, all the cats, but I decided it was for me. While I was still Out.

OK, so last night I decided I might like the kitten after all.

Today People let him out of the damn carrier.

And we've been playing ever since. He doesn't understand that I need naps, and he doesn't take naps (??!), so People took him on her lap while I blog.

But I am done blogging about my Christmas present-Gotta Go, I've got a Kitten to name!

And teach to use the litter box, and not get on Mozart's sofa, or in Mozart's special toys-but I did take him one toy to play with last night, that's how People knew it might be safe to let him out of the damn carrier. I gotta teach him all kinds of things!

I, Mozart, am now Uncle Mozart!

2007-12-14T17:38:00.000-05:00

Good and not so good news...

It is now as official as can be without a pedigree-I, Mozart, am a Maine Coon cat. I coulda told her, but People has listening to Mozart issues.

Ever since I moved into People's house, I have had a chronic sneeze. People started smoking outside because she thought it was causing my sneeze.

(Here's the not so good news.) People consulted with the V.E.T. who did some tests, and because he really really likes Mozart, did some Googling and other research. He had People bring me back into his stick Mozart with pointy things place so he could see if I have the 'M' on my furhead and the tufty ear things, and then he did the test that told him I am most likely a Maine Coon cat, and I have cardiomyopathy.

(People is a British peoples, although she was borned in America, and lives in America, and gave up her dual citizenship a long time ago. People has an interesting story too.)

V.E.T. says if any peoples can keep me going with a sound quality of life, it is my peoples, People.

This is so not the end of my story! But it is a good middle place in my story. I am warm-but not too warm. I am fed-but not too well fed. I have fun exercize-but not the stressful kind I had when I was still Out. And I have People.

See, I knew I needed to be In!

In Is Better!

Especially for Maine Coon cats with the cardiomyopathy (that a responsible breeder would have ensured I didn't get borned with).

And now the V.E.T. and People know that I am a lot younger cat than they thought. When the V.E.T. read my shelter chip he thought there had to be something he called a clerical error, coz I am so big, so I couldn't be that young.

I, Mozart, am a BIG kitten-I am not even a year old! I will be one years old at the end of something called January.

Woo-Hoo, my really First Christmas!

OH NO!! Will having this cardiomyopathy thing mean I won't get as big a piece of Christmas dinner as I did the Thanksgiving Day one?? HMPHH!

Still, In Is Better! WOO HOO!!

2007-11-22T17:22:00.000-05:00

People has been home today. She watched a thing on TV called The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, and a dog show, and a movie that made water fall out of her head-eyes really.

People sprung a buncha leaks today. I'd worry about her if I didn't know that sometimes peoples do that and they are still OK without having to go the peoples V.E.T.

And all day she put cold things in the make-it-hot box she calls the oven that made really good smells while getting hot. Just for us, she told me. We'll be eating this for the next few days, Mozart, she said. Fine by me, this is good!

IN IS BETTER! So say I, Mozart! Birdie tastes MUCH better after it has been in the oven!

I like sweet potato cassarole, and mashed white potato and sour cream cassarole, and those green things she called beans.

Which we already knew 'coz when she brings the bag home I steal two or three and eat them raw. But since I've been living with People, I kinda like green beans cooked, too.

I eat beans, so I can't figure out why the other cats call peoples beans-are we gonna eat them someday??

But I only ate a little of the cranberry thingies, eew, NASTY.

And so my first Thanksgiving goes.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

I thought People would NEVER get off the Boris so's I could have a turn. She would get up to do something in the kitchen room and I would jump up thinking I could finally do some Mozart blogging, but People would come back and drop me off the damn chair!

Hmph!

I've spent a lot of the day trying to get more Birdie, and looking out of the window behind the couch at the windy, wet, and altogether blustery day.

People got a big box out of the closet, and said to me "SEASON'S GREETINGS young Mozart! Welcome to the first day of Season's Greetings!"

Yes, kitties, In Is Better, especially on the first day of Season's Greetings when it is wet and windy and altogether blustery Out.

People has now started putting all manner of interesting treasures on the tables, and the couch is covered with plastic tree parts (eew, plastic tree is Nasty!), so I have my turn with Boris the computer finally. People is completely absorbed in putting all these sparkly things on little hangers from the plastic tree...

Hmmm, dangly things! The dangly things are sparkly, too. And is that a fluttery things? A glass Birdie with real fluttery things dangling from it's glass body?!

My first Christmas in my People's house...

I'll never understand a plastic tree in the house, though, even with all those tempting fluttery, dangly, sparkly-OH!

Oh, I do not think People is going to like what I am thinking...

Gotta go!

2007-10-26T21:42:00.000-04:00

I, Mozart, have decided that dangly things are almost as good as fluttery things.

People has a friend who makes dangly things to hold People's glasses on her neck when her ears are not holding up her glasses.

Once, People set her glasses down on the table and I sniffed the glasses, and then looked through the glasses for a long time. Then People came back for her glasses. I don't think I like glasses. I felt crookedy for a coupla minutes after looking through People's glasses.

I don't get it. People holds these things up with her ears and doesn't walk crookedy when she is looking through the glasses.

Must be a peoples thing.

People and I, Mozart, are having many "Adventures In Remodeling". The latest adventure is going to happen tomorrow when People tries out another one of her new power tools.

People has power tools in something called storage down in the hurricane place, but she is waiting to get the "Adventures In Remodeling" more finished before we begin "Adventures In Moving The Rest Of People's Stuff to Georgia".

Last weekend People tried out the new corded power drill. She is very good with it-she put a lot of holes in the ceiling, then filled the holes with little silver things (I don't know what she calls the little silver things because she didn't say the name of them when she was filling the perfectly good holes she had just made with the little silver things. They were shiney. I hope I find one while she is out hunting. I mean working.) to hold up some somethings she calls "smoke detectors'.

She put some holes in the walls and filled those holes too-yup, more shiney things-and now the cleaning sticks she calls mops and brooms and dustpans have a place to be when she is not using them.

She also made some more holes for holding up curtain rods-oooooooo, curtains are soooooooo fluttery now that she (also) made some keep Mozart in the house but let the outside smells and air in things she calls screens. She put these damn screen things in the window and now she can open the windows on nice days.

I, Mozart, can sit on the back of the couch window and watch the front. I can sit in the washer and dryer room window and watch the back.

But I can't get out of the house. Mostly Out does not appeal to me. But sometimes...

I am undecided about screens.

But I like "Adventures In Remodeling"! Even painting; People uses something she called Low Voc so I would not get sick from something she calls fumes. I don't know about fumes, but I like painting. I tried to help and I think my paw prints looked very artistic, but People wasn't very happy about my help.

People can be very silly sometimes about what is artistic.BUT...

People Got A Camera! Soon she will take the film out and take it to the CVS place and bring back a CD thing, feed it to Boris the computer, and Boris will make my pictures appear on my blog!!

(People calls the computer Boris. I smelled it-it is not alive. I think.)

I tried to teach People about digital cameras, but she said she didn't want to get too technical, and besides, with a film camera, People says she can develop the film herself after we are finished with "Adventures In Remodeling" and can set up a room she calls a dark room.

I do not know how far People plans to go with this remodeling thing-we only have three rooms, four if you count the washer dryer room and five if you really push it and call the bathroom a room.

We don't have a room she can make into a dark room.

S'OK, she'll show me.

2007-08-11T21:23:00.001-04:00

She took me, I shredded the tunnels-she is not happy that she had to pay for the one I shredded. I did not get a tunnel. I did not get a screen room. She did not get a camera because they don't sell camera things at the pet store-'scuse me? What else is a camera thing for?

My people did get me a fluttery thing on a stick. I liiiiiiiiiiike fluttery things!

OK, I am trying to participate in the latest dare issued by The Cat Realm-make a 'not of my species special friend' which ought to be a neat trick since my people can't figure out how to buy a camera thing so she can put my picture up, and the picture of my NOMSS even if the NOMSS I am trying to make says yes!

I'm still doing it.

I was gonna ask this Boxer, but someone already asked her, and LUCKILY (thank-you Nubis!) that way cool squirrel dog over at http://ivypaws.blogspot.com hasn't been asked yet, so I asked her.

And I think my people is gonna get a dog to move in with us. Maybe. She's really thinking about it. So if Ivy says yes, and my people finds us a f2f woofer who says yes, I'll have two! Two NOMSS friends, one in the 'Net, and one in the house.

IN IS BETTER! I think that is my new motto:)

Is it hot there? It sure is here! We have air conditioning, and we live in the Piedmont region right at the foot of the mountains, so it's a little cooler than down nearer Hotlanta, but it still so hot that People didn't do much but take ice and water to the man peoples digging up the front lawn to find the water leak. They think they got it, but I don't think so, 'coz the kitchen sink cold water is not falling out of the water faller very fast, but the hot is.

Hmmmmm.

My people says this is adventures in remodeling.

I, Mozart have grreat adventures! (mostly because my people had already cleaned out my bathroom, and my JUST FOR ME bowls, and her hands, and some clothes-it would not have been a grrreat adventure otherwise!) I got to watch the man peoples do all kinds of interesting things, and I learned that peoples put more than four-legs who've gone to the Bridge in the ground-they put tubes that bring water to the water faller, too!

I learned that man peoples know lots of interesting words, too, but I am still a young cat and needn't know of such things.

Hmmmmmm...

2007-08-04T16:00:00.000-04:00

WOOHOO! My People stayed home today! But silly People, why take a day off from hunting if all yer gonna do is sleep!

Get up, People! We gatta find a camera to take my picture! We gotta go to PetsMart to buy me toys!

My people caught me looking at CWB and DWB a coupla days ago-BUSTED-BUT!! She says she's gonna get me toys, and TAKE ME WITH HER! OK, in the damn cat carrier, but hey, an outing that doesn't include the V.E.T., and does include toys makes the cat carrier a worthy sacrifice for I, Mozart to make.

GET UP, PEOPLE!

2007-07-29T19:13:00.000-04:00

But Wait! There's more...

OK, I am IN!!! I finally felt safe, but I was playing it very very cool. That is until the storm.

I am a Southern Boy, I live in the North Georgia Piedmont. The weather here, according to my People Person, is much nicer than where she came here from-the Gulf Coast region. But we have very wild weather here, I think, so I think if she ever tries to move back to South Alabama I will have to protest strongly. Very strongly.

About a week after I got IN I stopped sleeping under the bed, and started sleeping on top of it even if she was in it. I like sleeping with a people. It is very nice for her to have me there. But when the boomerbangs and the Big Light happened at the same time I got scared and jumped off the bed and got under it. I knew what was coming-Water!

I like water, I even jump in the water box and look at the water falling spout hoping it will turn on, and when she gets in the water box she has to make me stay outside of the door because I like to get in it when the water is falling. That's OK, I just jump in the kitchen sink when she washes things now.

But when I was OUT and the boomerbangers happened I did not like the water because it was hard to find a place to go without water. Water is only good when you can get out of it when you are wanting to get out of it. And the boomerbangs and the Big Lights-UGH!

Anyway, she woke up too, and jumped off the bed. I wondered if she was gonna get under the bed too. But she got a big plastic thing that makes light and then she went around taking the magical Power Lines out of the wall and she did some other things too, like putting a plastic light maker in all the rooms, and then she turned on the TV and sat down in a chair away from the windows.

She talked to herself out loud-a big help to understand what was happening. She kept saying this was one heck of a storm (that's what peoples call boomerbangers?) and she said "Oh please God no tornadoes!"

The way she said it told me she didn't like tornadoes and that she was scared and that maybe she thought this God guy might help. Personally I count on Nubis and Bast, so I can understand.

So I got out from under the bed and came out and sat on Gator's smelly spot and then I jumped on her lap and then she said "Oh Crikes!" but she held me just right and we got in the laundry closet and there was a really loud roarey wind, but it was a little bit far away, and that's how I found out about what is a tornado.

The tornado missed us, but went over the hills to a different town and tore up house coverings and trees and moved a bunch of cars all around. But no peoples, and no cats or dogs or anything.

The next day she made me an evac pak and told me about the hurricanes she and Gator went through down on the Gulf.

I don't like the Gulf. I don't want to go there. Ever.

But I like that I have an evac pak just like Gator's 'cept mine has cat stuff and Gator's had dog stuff.

My momma loves me.

She said I have to get used to a cat carrier and she brought one home for me. She put it on the coffee table and left the door unzipped so that I could go in, but I thought she was gonna take me back to the shelter in it and I wouldn't go in it for ANYTHING not even my favorite fluttery thing she got for me the day after I got IN.

But then, a month after I got IN, she grabbed my front paws together in one hand, and my back paws and back end in the other and the next thing I knew I was in the damn cat carrier! With the door ZIPPED SHUT!!

I let her know how I felt!

But then a lot of people came in and started taking out all of the things in the house. What??

She put me on top of a table and I could see everything that was happening. She leaned down and told me that I should not worry, we are not going to V.E.T. or the shelter, we are moving to a different house!

OH!

How did she know I was afraid of going back to the shelter?

How did she know how to get me in the carrier before I knew what was happening?

She knows cats.

I like my new house. We have lived here since May 5th. We have a lot of things here that we didn't have in the other house, like a washing machine, which is a very cool water box for washing clothes, but not cats. I try to get in it every time she uses it though. And we have a dryer. I like the dryer. My food is on top of it, and it is very warm when she puts the wet clothes from the washing machine into it and turns it on. My people says I am going to love it come winter:)

I have food, and water-I have MY VERY OWN WATER BOWL JUST FOR ME! I have fluttery things and round rolley things called rattle balls, and I have a dryer that I will love in the winter. I have windows to look out of that are not looking at the awful woods I came In from. I have a blog, and friends with blogs that I can read and leave comments on.

I have a people person ALL MY OWN who loves me.

I have good adventures, instead of the scary ones I had when I was OUT. The storm and the move were just the first. My people tells me sometimes about Gator's adventures, like Hurricane Ivan, and when they lived in Guatemala. (What's a Guatemala?)

Now I am going to train her to hunt a camera so that I can show everyone what a handsome Ginger I am!

Oh yeah, I like the cat carrier thing now, and get in it sometimes. She leaves it open, on the floor in the room with the TV and computer. But mostly I like sitting on her lap or next to her on the floor.

OK, now you are all caught up on I, Mozart.

2007-07-28T19:44:00.000-04:00

Congratulations again to the lovely Fomerly Feral over at missyblueeyes.blogspot.com!

In is beter!

My new people takes very good care of me, 'cept she's gone a lot lately. She has to pay for my kibble. But today she came back early and I heard her tell her people friend Jack that she finally ran her timecard (what's a timecard?) and found out she was on her 20th straight workday.

Hmph. She could have asked me, I cudda told her she had got up before the sun came out for twenty mornings in a row. I cudda told her she left me alone in the dark house twenty times in a row! I cudda.

But she does take very good care of me, and I do live IN, so I try to do my part. When the box on her table makes that loud noise that she seems too able to sleep through, I make sure she gets up. Even if she doesn't want to. I know the box makes her go hunting for the money to pay for my kibble.

2007-07-22T04:14:00.000-04:00

The longer I lived outside the more I wanted to get IN. I was cold, I was sneezing, I was hungry and tired all the time.

OK, I was afraid. Bad things happened in the woods where I had to hunt, mean four legs who would eat me. Big birds, too, who past the squirrel nest to tell me they were just waiting for the right time.

One day the squirrel nest fell out of the tree with me in it! I caught myself on a tree branch. I got down from the tree after a while and I told myself that I would never go up a tree again.

I was in trouble and I knew it and I thought maybe my time was running out.

Then it got warmer and I felt a little better, but I still wanted IN!

She was still feeding me. The big black cat that lived in the woods but let her neighbours think he was their cat told me I was stoopid for wanting to go inside. He told me that people are stupid but I should let them feed me, but NEVER go inside.

I didn't like that cat. He was mean. When he hunted he was didn't kill and then eat, he liked to eat while his dinner was still alive. He let the people see him doing it.

Gator had been dead for a long time. When he died I had a bunch of my milk teeth. By now I had a few grown up teeth. Big deal. I still didn't like hunting even though the better teeth made eating my catches a little easier.

UGH, feathers are fluttery and fun unless you have a mouth full of feathers when what you really want is FOOD!

She was away working even more. She needed me. I heard the neighbours talking when they sat on their porches that she was gonna drop dead at her desk if she didn't slow down. They said her son was stoopid for not coming home and bringing the baby to see her.

Whoa, she had a son who had a son! A baby. I know about babies. They smell and cry and are clumsy and incautious about how they touch cats. Probably dogs too.

But I still wanted in and and I decided I still wanted to be in her house. So I started watching to see if she would leave her door open so I could sneak in. I made a PLAN. I would sneak in and be really really quiet and good and she would not even know I was there for a while.

And finally she opened the door and it stayed open for a long time. So long that three other cats tried to get in, but she shooed them out and distracted them from coming in by putting a big bowl of food out on the driveway.

She knows cats.

But I had a PLAN.

I listened and when she was in the back part of the house I ran in the door and turned right and ran into her bedroom and hid under the bed. I smelled all the house smells. I could smell Gator, he smelled old and tired but really sad because he loved her and didn't want to leave her; if a dog could leave that happy/sad smell, then the people person he left that smell for must be a right kind of people. Yes, I was right, this was a good house and a good people, and I was gonna live here and she would be glad.

She came into the front room and sat down. She was reading a book and listening to a TV program, so I came out from under the bed and walked out into the living room. I could smell Gator everywhere, but the smell was really strong in one place a few feet from her chair. I laid down on that spot and stretched out and started to purr.

She looked over at me and said "I know you! You are the cat the people out back adopted from the shelter! But they moved out nearly two months ago! They left you, didn't they?"

Then she went back to her book. We spent the rest of the daytime like that. I would get up to have a bite from the food bowl, then come back in and lay down. I watched the TV, it was just like the one from the shelter that was always on. I like TV.

A cat can learn a lot of things from a TV. I even learned to read from TV, and how to use the Internet to learn more things. I saw a man who was hurt in an accident use one with a straw in his mouth to poke the buttons people call keys to write what he wanted, and after I thought about it I thought I could learn to do something like that with one of my claws, if I could just get a chance to try.

But when the sun started to go in she made me go outside, and I spent the night under her car.

She made a phone call to the people who owned the house out back. "Do you know if they want that ginger cat?"

YESSSSSS!

The next weekend she opened the door again and left it open while she called the people again. "You're sure? Well, that's great, I think I'll take it in then. A cat is the better companion for me with my hours, and I don't think I am ready for another dog really. Thanks Michelle, this is great. I know it's had all it's shots and has been altered because it's a shelter cat. No, I'm good, I've been a catmom before. Mike didn't like cats, so after the cat I brought with me died we didn't have another. Jeez, it's been 18 years since Tiger died!"

Tiger? Gator? She liked wild things, I think. What was she gonna name me??? Possum?!

When she came inside I was trying out her bed and pillow. Niiice! But when she sat down in the chair I got off of the bed and went out and jumped up on the hassock and laid down. I looked at her for a minute while she looked at me, then I started watching the TV because a bunch of people with feathers and other fluttery things came out from the corner of the TV and were fluttering all over the TV to the sound of music-ooooo, I like fluttery things!

She got up and shut the door. She looked at me to see how I was going to take being shut in.

I yawned. I stretched. Then I fell asleep.

When I woke up she showed me where the litter pan is, and where the food bowl JUST FOR ME is and

I

was

IN.

2007-07-20T03:17:00.000-04:00

First of all, thank-you very much to all of you visitors! I feel quite welcomed and very much the 21st century cat to have all these new friends in the 'Sphere. Everytime she leaves the computer on I click over to your blogs and bookmark 'em, but she comes back from the bathroom really fast and I don't want her to know how smart I am. Yet. She doesn't use the PC very often because she hunts really long hours sometimes on Saturday too, so I don't get much chance to blog on. It is taking me a while to organize her.

OK, some of you asked for more of how I got in here sooo...

That night it was reeeeally cold AND wet, so cold that ice balls instead of snow covered the ground so deep I couldn't see my paws, and I climbed up in the tree to stay out of it. I stayed in an old squirrel nest that was still pretty tight, and from it I could see down into her whole yard.

In the morning she brought the old dog out before she went hunting for things.

Five mornings in a row she would get up before the sun came out and would get in her car and drive away. She would come back after the sun went in with things-food, or not food things. I didn't know much about the things she brought that weren't food because I'd not lived in a people's house yet. I knew the things weren't food. If I had eaten and was full I would think about what she did with the things that weren't food, but mostly I thought about the food things she brought back from hunting.

Gator didn't look happy at all about walking in, on, through the ice balls. He did his business and dragged her back to the house, and I knew it was warmer in there, and I wished I could go in there with him. Besides me wanting to be warm, he didn't look right and I wanted to go in and curl up with him to make him feel better even though I knew he did not like cats. She always told him "NO Kitty Frisbie, Gator." The way she said it and the way he looked so disappointed when she said it told me Kitty Frisbie is probably not a game the Kitty would like. But I still wanted to snuggle him. Maybe he would learn to like me the way the dog at the shelter did.

One time an old dog came into the shelter before I was adopted and because there was so many dogs and cats the shelter people had to put the newest dog in a cage right next to mine.

He said he was old, and tired, and knew the shelter people would send him to the Bridge, and he was so miserable I felt sorry for him and got right up against the wire by him. I cleaned up the parts of him I could reach, and it made him feel better. He said so.

A real rescue lady took him home to die with dignity at her place. For all I know, he is still alive. Maybe.

But I didn't get a chance to do that for old Gator. While I was still trying to figure out how to get out of the tree, she left to go hunting. When she came back much later, I was back up the tree. So I couldn't sneak in the door when she was coming in.

She brought him out into the dark, he did his business and I could tell he was even worse. That was the last time I saw him alive.

For seven more mornings and nights he didn't come out of the house, but more people came into it, even while she was gone hunting, and I knew they were taking care of Gator while she was hunting. When she would come home she would try to coax him to eat and drink. I know he drank water but she could not get him to eat. I know because I came down every night after she got there and listened at the door.

By now I was about the only cat eating the food she was putting out; I had to fight all the others, and told them they should just go beg somewhere else because this is my food now. Two of the freeloaders had furever homes, they just wanted something different, so I defined the phrase "Git yer own!" for them, and they were so ashamed they slunk off and didn't come back until after I moved in.

So I could listen at the door without too much distraction, and I heard her talking to him. I also shamelessly eavesdropped when she called her son's friend to ask him to let Fox know Gator-really his dog-was dying. I heard her say "Ed, I think he is holding out for Fox to come say good-bye, I really do. If we turn his bed away from the door he struggles to get his head back to it."

Man, that got me! So when she would leave, I would stay by the door and try to talk to him, but he was so sick that he never answered.

On the seventh night that he didn't come out I could hear his breathing had got really hard, and I knew he was hanging on to say good-bye to her. Finally her car came in and she went inside.

After a little while I knew he was dead because I heard her call his name and then start crying. And then a lot of people came and I went up the tree because I didn't much like people then.

That Gator was a people size dog. It took two people to carry his body, wrapped in a plastic thing, outside. They put it down in the back yard by the big oak tree. The women were crying and the men were practical. I heard one say "Thank-God for the cold." The others agreed and I knew they would not be able to put his body in the ground until the sun came out again; I knew that the cold would keep the coyotes away from disturbing his body.

It took them a long time to make a big enough hole and I watched the whole thing from the squirrel nest. They had to use a people thing called a pick-axe (I had to look that word up at the online dictionary so I could spell it right, I am one smart cat!) but the men and a couple of the women from the nieghbourhood got it done and finally Gator's body was decently buried.

I knew she was a good people! One of the shelter ladies used to talk to all of us inmates-that's was she called us-and she was all the time talking about furever homes and the people who would love us so much they would make sure when we crossed the Bridge our bodies would be given a decent burial instead of...never mind the instead. It is one of those shelter memories I don't like.

Every night when she got home from work (She calls hunting "work". Well, it is, isn't it?) she would go around to the backyard to visit Gator's grave. Even before she would put her catch inside. She would say his name, and I began to understand moving in was gonna take longer than I thought.

But she kept putting the food out for us cats, well, just me really but she didn't know that.

The day after he died, when she got back from work, she came outside and called Fox's friend Ed again to tell him what happened. Naturally I listened.

"He died exactly a week after the stroke! He had the stroke Thursday night, Feb 1st at 9 o'clock, and Ed, I swear, he died last night, Thursday the 8th, at 9:11. I don't know what I'll do without him, he's been there with us, and then me after everything with the divorce, for all but three months of his nearly thirteen years. Yeah, he was three months short of thirteen. 24th May 1994 to 8th Feb 2007."

Yowsa, he WAS old!

"I know, I know, Boxers don't usually live that long, 8 or 9 years at best usually. He was such a great dog!" They talked for a while longer, then she shut the phone and went back inside.

I knew about divorce. My fur mother told me that is why we ended up in the box. Her people got a divorce, and everybody went to live in different places, and some of the kids didn't talk to one or the other of the parents, and the parent that got the kid that was mad at the other one didn't want a cat and kitten litter, so out we went.

So, I thought, this two leg got a divorce. From listening to her phone conversation I figured things out. Her son was got grown-up at the same time as the divorce, and moved out of her house, and he blamed her for the divorce, so they didn't talk, but SHE kept his dog that he couldn't take. She kept his dog and loved it so well the dog lived nine whole years with her alone after the divorce. But she never saw her son because he was still mad at her.

Stoopid Fox! (Who names their son Fox, anyway?)

She Calls Me Mozart. Whatever.

2007-07-15T19:10:00.000-04:00

She calls me Mozart because I moved in officially during a PBS televised production of The Magic Flute and she likes to joke that she couldn't call me Puccini.

Whatever.

I pegged her in first thing. She had this really old big dog who looked as though he could still eat me.

But I saw something else. He was so old he was going to cross over the Rainbow Bridge pretty soon, and hey, I needed a home, ya know, so I just started watching them.

She was putting out food for the free cats but she hadn't really noticed me because I was careful not to be seen. I'd been burned before, ya know?

Who cares what my 'real' name is, was? I was born, and the whole litter of us and our mother were dumped in a box at the shelter.

The shelter was a shelter, OK? Not good and I don't like to remember all the stuff that happened there so I don't. I just don't. Especially now that I have been living with her since April. Living with her has pretty well wiped out the hurt of the memories, and the things I went through after my so-called adoption, YEESH! The stuff I had to do to survive!

But sometimes, well sometimes it still shows. Today, the 15th of July, I finally figured out there is a bowl just for me with water in it. I don't have to hope some water stays in the kitchen sink for me to lick up-she has been putting water in the other bowl, the one she keeps putting by the food-hey, I am not gonna miss the food, OK? But the water is so clean I really did not know it was there!

She splashed some at me, and I almost fell off of the top of the dryer where she keeps my food in my surprise-HUH, ya mean there's water for me in that bowl?! I drank half the bowl right down. I was so embarrassed, but OMGsh, it just tasted so GOOD and so CLEAN! Here all this time I thought it was just an extra bowl, for um, I don't know, whatever. Swear to Nubis, I thought it was empty.

You don't want to know why I never thought there would be a bowl of water just for me that was clean, not muddy or worse.

I was just a fluffy little Ginger boy when they stuck a gosh awful lot of needles in me, and I even had to be (oh dear, the horror) to be neutered. But I was all good, because they kept telling me that I was such a cute little thing I was sure to find a really good home.

Yeah, right.

Well, I did, didn't I, in the end? Or was it really the beginning?

Whatever.

What happened was this-yeah, I got adopted all right, and the people who adopted me from the shelter wrapped a damn collar around my neck (that thank Nubis was just loose enough and cheap enough that I eventually got it off before it choked the last life right out of my little, scrawny, STARVING little Ginger body after they moved away-without me!). They told the shelter all kinds of lies about how great my new life was gonna be, and how they would keep me inside the house and I was gonna even get to sleep on the little girl's bed.

BUT, when we got 'home' and I'm still thinking maybe things are gonna be great, they all go inside and slam the door in my face, and I am lucky if I get a handful of cheap (even cheaper than at the shelter) kibble flung out of their door now and again. Because they think cats should be outside. Always. No exceptions.

Oh, yeah, I was watching her alright. Every other week she brought home this ginormus sack of premium dog kibble-I could smell it and it was so premium I would have eaten eat if I'd got a chance. I hated that about me, that I would salivate watching this big sack of dog food going in the door.

That dog had it made. I hated him, I envied him, and I wished he would let me move in while he was still alive, because I could tell she loved him, and he loved her, and hey, even living inside, dogs that big don't live as long as he had without having a really, really good home. I knew he had been brought home as a puppy and had never ever known a bad day. I knew he had never seen the inside of a shelter, or gone hungry-oh Hell no, she looked like the type who would go hungry so he could eat.

My kind of two-leg. She had this nasty old dog inside the house, but she wouldn't let him eat the cats she was feeding, and she brought blankits out and boxes for the free cats, too. She even talked to the free cats.

I wanted to move in to her house-I'm not stupid, I know those free cats aren't free, and I just waited and watched, and tell you the truth when the people who'd adopted me from the shelter moved out a month after moving in, and left me there in the middle of winter it really didn't hurt too much. Honest. I had bigger and better plans. But I am getting ahead of myself.

The dog, she called him Gator. I know about alligators, so I stayed out of his reach. Even after he started noticing me and not letting her know I was there. He would look at me hiding (oh jeez, I was so pathetic) under the car and pretend not to notice me. Or he would just sit down and look at me with this look in his eyes, and I've come to think he was trying to tell me it was OK.

It was so cold, and I was so hungry, and thirsty.

And then he died.