Wild & Wooly!

Winter is here! We had 12" of snow at Camp Shorewood on Friday and both Macks and Deer got to stay home with us. Then we had more snow overnight, a high of only 8 today and tomorrow and more snow for Tuesday! We have 3 weather warnings today: winter weather advisory (for the snow), a winter storm warning (for the blowing and drifting snow) and a wind chill advisory. How often does that happen?

Anyway, it's just awesome! Why awesome, you ask? Well, 'cause the best thing to do when it's wild outside is to grab yourself a human and get to some serious cuddling!





In a pinch, another cat will also do the trick, but it's best to make sure they are CLEAN first!

It's in my nature

From Maddie:

I've heard this human saying that "curiosity killed the cat". Well, now, I don't think it's all that drastic, but - if I do say so myself - we are a pretty inquisitive lot!

I don't think Deer is a very good mouser - or she's gotta find a new place to go mousing everyday - 'cause she never, ever brings any mice home to play with or nibble on! A few times a week, though, she'll bring Macks back little sweet samples from a coffee shop right next door to where she goes all day. They're not mice, but he does seem to like them. Well, a few days ago, she brought home something for Macks and left it on the kitchen table for him. I didn't think anyone would mind or notice if I tried to find out what all of the hubbub was about!

So, in fine feline fashion, I snuck up and snatched the treat and took it into the spare room to conduct my investigation:


It was some sort of pumpkin bread.


It was good.

I ate the whole thing.

I'll start my diet...tomorrow, I promise.

Where in the world?

Hey, has anyone seen my rubber duckie?


You know what they say, "Cleanliness is next to feline-ness!" Don't you think there's a resemblance between Mr. Bubble and Maddie?


Maddie says, "Watch it, buster...bubbles can kill."

Better late than never

Happy Birthday, Daddy! We're one day late in wishing you a very happy day but it's not our fault...honest! Deer has been too busy to help us turn this darn computer on. We can do everything else, but turning this crazy machine on with our most delicate pawz is a bit beyond us at the moment. So, we've decided to work on our dexterity!

Washie has chosen the sink balance beam as his favorite apparatus:

Maddie exercises her right to vote and suggests keeping things the same (aka letting someone else push the buttons):



Deer went away for too many days a little while ago to same place called Orlando for, what she called a confurence...we didn't get that part because she doesn't have any fur!

Then we got really worried thinking that she went to go see other cats but all she saw was some overgrown mouse in a tuxedo and this creepy crawly on a tree by the hotel pool!
We're glad she didn't bring home the creepy crawly, but she should have brought home the big mouse for us to play with and to nibble on!

In other news, it snowed here at Camp Shorewood and we got a couple of inches. It sure is pretty out there. We're hoping it snows as much as it did last year because it makes for the best cuddling and napping weather ever!

Again, Happy Happy Birthday Daddy! WE LOVE YOU AND MISS YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Come visit us at Camp soon, ok?

Time flies

Has it been already one year since we've been at Camp Shorewood?! We've sure had a lot of fun and learned lots of new things!

• Washie got to know the Humans at the Emergency Vet Hospital shortly after we got here. He didn't like that too much, but thought getting his belly shaved was pretty cool!

• Deer likes to bring the Big Scary Yellow Monster that lives in the front closet out at least once a week for a walk around Camp. We don't like the Monster and we hide in the closet 'til it goes back home.

• When it snows ALOT! Macks and Deer get to stay home and we can sleep on them. We like snow days...we think they do, too!

• Maddie likes it when Deer plays with her pretty string.

• We learned that we both have very famous Japanese cousins.

• We developed a new Olympic sport, Synchronized Cat Napping. Watch for it in London in 2012.

• Washie has been been unsuccessfully trying to launch an attack against that Seattle Beastie. He is still determined and will not give up.

• We got to spend a lot of time with Deer in April-June. She seemed sad to be home all the time...but we were very happy! She went back mousing in July and she seems a lot happier. We miss her very much during the day, though!

• Macks and Deer go out on long mousing trips on their bikes when it is warm out. They must eat their mice on a picnic or something, 'cause they haven't brought any back for us!

So much in one year! We like it here. And we love Macks and Deer and they love us. Is it ok if we stay?

We miss you lots and lots and hope that you will come visit us soon (WITHOUT THE SEATTLE BEASTIE, please...hmm, on second thought maybe bring him with you. That would save Washie lots of energy!) Like good places to nap, that's the nice thing about love...you can never run out of it and there's always plenty more.

We'll love you endlessly for giving us a warm, safe home when we needed it the most.

We'll love you endlessly for giving us this warm, safe home until we need it no longer.

From the bottom of our little feline hearts,

Washington and Madison

A Day In The Life Of

From Washington -

Between wrestling with my sister, napping, using the litter box, napping, wrestling some more, napping, sneaking in the bathroom and sneaking peeks, playing, napping, my days are pretty action packed! I thought I'd share with you a few vignettes.

If I can, I especially like starting the day with a good tummy scratch by Deer!

I'm an equal opportunity tummy scratchee, so I make sure all sides get fair treatment.

Then, I usually like to get silly for a while. Extreme close up of my nose!

Then, it's time for my post-breakfast nap and I like to make myself a little Cat Cave:

Is that Tony or are you just happy to see me?

Nope, it's Tony!

Maddie thinks she's above all these high jinx, but we all know better! But, even I have to admit, she does look pretty ok in this photo...for a sister, anyway:

Hugs and kisses,

Tony

Tomato, To-mah-to...

Being siblings, we don't always agree on everything (except on good napping locations here at Camp Shorewood) and, nightly on occasion, we've been known to host WrestleMania 2008:

Sometimes you just gotta agree to disagree. Tomato, tomahto, potato, potahto...









However, there is one other thing we agree on.

If you can't beat 'em

From Maddie:

These silly humanz finally understood what you are supposed to do a fine, autumnal day. That is, find yourself a nice comfy spot in the sun and have a NAP!

Well, leave it to my dumb brother to hog all of the good spots:


















That's the nice thing about laps, I say: there's always room for one more:

All I want to do...

from Washie:

All I want to do is have some fun!

Here I am early this morning doing what I do best...playing! Because, if I'm nothing else, I'm a Kat who just know how to be silly, have a good cuddle, then get silly all over again!

Here I am, moving so fast that I'm just a blur!













Peek-a-boo!














Whoa, like dude, check out this trippy picture of me. It's like the camera is totally whacked out on catnip or something. Totally psychedelic, man. Welcome to my world.

Old School

With the first day of autumn tomorrow (Deer's very favorite season!) and the scent of new pencils and books in the air, we thought September's family portrait theme was aptly entitled Old School!

We - and our Japanese cousins - took decidedly different takes on the theme!

Chococat, aka Tony's cuz, went the traditional route:
















Tony, being the very silly cat he is, tried to steal Deer's spectacles to complete his very brainy look.















Maddie's Japanese relation, Hello Kitty, took Old School to mean something slightly different:
















Groovy Hello Kitty seems to be channeling Janis Joplin or somebody! Maddie didn't need a single prop...she's naturally tie-dyed! 1967, here she comes!

What we did on Labor Day

You humans have the wackiest holidays - you put trees in your house in December, carve up pumpkins, have super scary fireworks and celebrate, of all things, LABOR! People, get your priorities straight, will you?

This is how we chose to celebrate Labor.

Washie sunned his pretty pawz:














We practiced a new Synchronized Cat Napping routine:














That was kinda strenuous, so Maddie decided to go cuddle on Deer's feets. She loves to cuddle her feets!














Deer and Macks went on some crazy long bike ride this morning - over 40 miles, we heard them say. That's ok, we guess, since they seem to enjoy it but it meant that we didn't get our breakfast 'til 8:43 a.m. Maddie almost starved to death (she is, after all, just skin and bones) and Washie was this close to going mad, mad, mad! We figure that if they decide to pull that stunt again, they should at least make arrangements to have our breakfast catered. Again, people, priorities!

Trying to pull a fast one, eh?

From Washie:

Macks and Deer thought they could pull the wool over our eyes by trying out a new type of litter made from wheat.

Sorry, but I don't think so.

Their first clue should have been the rather disturbing cat pictured on the package. Is this feline wearing color-enhanced contacts? Egads, that' s just not natural!














Since Macks and Deer are, generally, ok in our book (except, of course, when they put us in the portable prison and cart us to the scary vet), I decided to give this new stuff a try. But, I have to tell you, that it really started to bug me especially during the last few weeks. To show my obvious displeasure, I started to kick my litter EVERYWHERE, making not-so-small mountains of it on the floor. Macks and Deer aren't very bright. They didn't get it. So, I dropped being Passive-Agressive Cat and went blatant. Yesterday morning, I thought it would be great fun to use this as my "litter box".














They finally got the point.

By the end of the afternoon, we were back to corn. All's right with the world and my litter box.

Hugs and kisses, Washie

The What Days of Summer?

From Washie:

We heard somewhere that some days in August are called {gasp} the DOG DAYS OF SUMMER!

What the #@!?$*$!!!

Maddie says, "Washie, watch your language!!"

Whatever.

Anyway, lately it's been getting downright chilly at night. Deer told Macks last weekend that it was 51 degrees! Brrrrrrrrrrrr....I hope that fluffy white stuff doesn't start falling already. Hmmmm, maybe that wouldn't be so bad 'cause it's good cuddling weather and Deer brings out her Magic Blanket. When she plugs it in, it warms up all by itself. Maddie and I are very fond of the Magic Blanket.

Well, with such a cool summer to enjoy, I've re-dubbed these days at the Cat Days of Summer and we are celebrating them in the traditional way.

Even in our sleep, we are practicing Synchronized Cat Napping. It's grueling test of will and fortitude, but somebody's gotta do it.

Let the Games begin!

After years of dedication, perseverance, sacrifice and training, it is finally time to make our debut on the international scene with our own Olympic event, synchronized napping.

To recap, the keys to scoring a perfect 10.0 are fairly straightforward:
1. PPP, or Proper Paw Placement
2. and the exceedingly difficult HC & T, aka Head Curl and Tuck

As you see below, we have obviously deserve 10.0s in both execution and style!

Tony on the podium (aka the Cat Food Storage Container) receiving Olympic Gold!

Cue the National Anthem (we don't mean the one you humans in this country sing!)

Revolution!

From Madison:

True, Washington tends to prefer Macks' lap and company while I've found a happy home cuddled close to Deer (especially when she's playing with the pretty string!) and we both had become quite accustomed to having our gentle Deer with us all day long these last few months. It's good to know there's always a warm lap to crawl into, don't you think?

It goes without saying that we were both quite distressed when Deer started to spend inordinate amounts of time away from us at her new whatchamacallit....a job? She's some muckity muck at this place. Nevertheless, we are none too pleased even though she said something about "bringing home the bacon"....bacon? did she say BACON?!?!?!?

I miss her company, especially during afternoon naptime - while I dozed off in her lap, I'd often be able to exert my SFA (aka Super Feline Abilities) and make her fall asleep, too. Tony, on the other hand, got all weird and decided that he would go on a hunger strike. Weirdo. Thank goodness he's over that, even though I most generously offered to eat his breakfast and supper for him. For whatever reason, that brilliant idea didn't fly.

I still miss my little Deer during the day very much. So, whenever she is home, I take every opportunity to give her a bit of Maddie Love. This is one of my most favorite places to cuddle:

Ah...all's right with the world.

The only difference is...

While Weebles wobble but they don't fall down...

Washie wobbles but he hopes he doesn't fall in!

Having the lid down is a necessary safety precaution!