Finally Friday!

Where did the week go?

Have fun at your favorite purrsuits and have a great weekend!

NIP!

WOO HOO! The mom broke out the nip!

 Some of us eat it daintily.

 Some of us get wild, make a mess then sleep it off.

 Some of us love to roll in it.

(that is not dandruff)

Some of us just ignore it.

WONDERING WEDNESDAY

Back in January Mr. Chewy sent us some food.  Not only did we enjoy the food, we LOVED the box and paper.  Guess what?  We STILL have the box!  AND the paper!!  We know deep in her heart the mom would love to throw it away.  So we have a little campaign going on....

 Someone is always...

... in the box looking ...

 comfy or cute.

 She can't throw it out with us in it, can she?

 Oui Oui!  Stop trying to dig your way to China!

Don't give her a reason to toss it!

My turn?

Oops!  Did I jump in the wrong thing?

TABBY TUESDAY

Some recent photos of our sweet girl, Oui Oui, doing some of her favorite things...

 Occupying the favorite box.

 Sleeping on Mica Minnie Moo's favorite pillow.

 Acting crazy on her favorite scratching post.

Hiding under her favorite pillow.

MANCAT MONDAY

Tabby Time Out

What a busy week!  Nothing is better after a crazy week than a good nap with some well worn shoes.

Ugh, don't wake me now!

Unless, of course, its a nap in a sunpuddle in the middle of a freshly made mess!

Oh, maid!

Would you mind hanging the "Do Not Disturb" sign on the door, please?

Everyone have a great weekend!  Purrs and kitty kisses from us all.

A DISMAL DAY

Finally the day came when The Girl had to go back to Collich.

Our goodbyes were said.  What a glum and gloomy time, but we know we'll see her soon.  Then what fun times we'll have! Well, maybe not Julie... specially if she needs a good furminating again!

Seriously Crabulated Kitty

.

Some things just tick me off!  Like picking on baby seals, throwing kittens from speeding cars, Mica Minnie Moo, or bullies.  Specially the bullies who STEAL YOUR FURS!!  What is the MATTER with some beans that they feel they have a right to rip your furs right off your body before the furs are ready to leave it?  The NATURAL way to lose furs is to be scratched and have them gently float away onto a bean.  No violent ripping.  Where is PETA?  The Humane Society?  Next time, I'm calling PROTECTIVE SERVICES!!

The Girl started by tearing the furs right off my back.  She KNOWS I HATE this!!  So I hummed at her.  The mom offered to do it, but The Girl thinks she can just do everything cause she worked at a V.E.T.s!  What does this tell you about her?  That's right!  She's a sadist!  She and Oui Oui may be so lovey dovey and happy together, well, pffft!

 Then she unceremoniously flipped me over.

 Good Cod!  Have some modesty!

My hums escalated into growls.

She clamped my mouth shut when I tried to persuade her to stop with my teeth.  The nerve!  My mommy would never have done this!  I would have bitten her (gently, not hard like I would Mica Moo), she would have gotten angry and stopped.  But not this demon!  And she knows I hate any one touching my belly more than anything.

When she was done, I was seriously crabulated!

Then she scrunched up my beautiful furs into "Kitty Kotton".

I was not amused!

Fierce Tiger Kitty

So last week The Girl came home for a visit.  I got to play one of my favorite games with her - Fierce Tiger Kitty.

I was just doing a little sunbathing when I noticed it!

Without warning, the evil Hand of Doom attacked!

I fought valiantly and hard...

...using all the skills I possess.

Even with the furrocious bunny kick...

the Wicked Minx tried overpowering me,

squealing, "Ow, ow, ow!" the entire time.

I fought her off.

She tried scratching me...

I kicked some more.

She restrained me...

I put my Punky Paws in  her face.

Don't you try kissing me, Evil one!

Cool!  The Julie Tail! 

Thanks, Evil Minx Sorceress!  I love the Julie Tail game!

***********

Speaking of the Julie Tail,

A preview of tomorrow!

Someone's not happy!

World Cancer Day

There isn't much I can say that hasn't been said about cancer.  I'm not a researcher, and don't know much more about it than most people.  The only thing I can really address is my personal experience with cancer.  The thing that strikes me most is when someone is diagnosed with cancer, all their family and friends suffer too.  The daily ups and downs, gains and set backs are agonizing, for the patient certainly, and for everyone who loves and cares for them.  I say the gains can be agonizing too, because one never knows when it will be snatched from you, there is always the "what if"  and "when will" in the back of one's mind.  For with cancer, it seems nothing lasts forever, and one learns to live with uncertainty - the uncertainty of whether one is cured, if it will ever come back.

I've had some friends, neighbors, coworkers and even cats with cancer, but today I'm going to talk about my parents, both of whom have had cancer.  Currently my mom is undergoing chemo for leukemia.

My dad underwent chemo for colon cancer the summer before the World Trade Center was destroyed.  I mentioned to a coworker because, other than having a few colds over the decades, my dad didn't know what it was like to be sick.  I thought because of that he wouldn't go through all of with his chemo.  She actually became quite angry with me for saying that, but I was right.  He only did half of the treatment.  He was lucky; he hasn't had a recurrence.  Still, during that abbreviated time, the unexpected would happen, horrors cancer has instore that one wouldn't have guessed at.  Once he went to the hospital for chemo and they discovered blood clots in his legs.  He wasn't allowed to leave because at any minute the clots could break up and lodge in other parts of his body and kill him.  Dealing with cancer is bad enough, but it finds horrible side effects to throw one's way.

My mom had breast cancer in the 1980's and had chemo.  In 2003 she was diagnosed with Myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), a form of pre-leukemia which can be caused by previous chemotherapy.  Just before Christmas we found out it had transformed into AML (Acute Myeloid, or Myelogenous, Leukemia).  The beginning of January the specialists at Johns Hopkins gave her 2-3 months with no treatment and 4-6 months with treatment, with a 30% chance of responding to treatment.  Unfortunately because of her age and prior MDS, they have no effective treatment, and no cure.  She just finished her 3rd round of a clinical trial drug, Vidaza, and the results have been amazing.  Both her white blood cells and platelet counts are normal!  Her red blood cells are good enough that she no longer needs transfusions (at least for the time being).

How hard January and February were!  She spent most of the time in the hospital.  She developed gout from being dehydrated.  She caught a nasty staph infection that wouldn't clear up, even with Cipro (remember they used Cipro during the anthrax attacks).  Her platelets were so low a small bump could have killed her.  She had to have red blood cell and platelet transfusions every day.  It was one thing after another, and no one really believed she would ever come home.  How thankful we all are that she has!

How long will it last?  Who knows.  Will the future be smooth?  Probably not.  But how grateful we are for this reprieve, however short it may be.

This World Cancer Day my prayers are for everyone suffering the effects of cancer - the patients, their family and their friends.  God bless and comfort you all.  May God guide the researchers that one day this disease will just be an ugly memory.

Happy St. Patty's Day!

Top o' the morning and Happy St. Patty's Day to you!

For St. Patty's Day, we'd like to share some words of Irish wisdom.  More than anyone, the Irish have a way with words.  Enjoy and have a great day!

May the Good Lord take a liking to you... but not too soon!

The light heart lives long.

May you live as long as you want,

And never want as long as you live.

May the best day of your past

Be the worst day of your future.

Tis better by far at the rainbow's end to find not a pot of gold,

But the heart of a friend.

Last, but not least!

Here's to a long life and a merry one

A quick death and an easy one

A pretty girl and an honest one

A cold beer and another one!

Remembering the Way We Were!

 

Kizzie, one of the cutest kitties in the universe.

We pulled some kitten photos from the "Archives".

Unfortunately all of Oui Oui's kitten photos are locked on old phones

(we still have the phones and hope to retrieve them one day).

Mica Minnie Moo was adopted as an adult, so all we have are pix of Julie & Carlos

 We just have to stop here and say, " OMC, Carl, you're SO thin!"

Here's a photo of The Girl as a "kitten".
She's holding Minnie Pumpkin, one of the kitties who came before.
(BTW, she was a formerly feral who was born under a porch.  Minnie Pumpkin, that is, not The Girl.)