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Finally Friday!

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Yay! It’s Finally Friday! These weeks with Mondays off are hard on Mom… She spends the rest of the week wondering what day it is! This one was a little bit worse since she had worked the weekend before after her work computer’s hard drive got deaded. All I’ve been hearing all week is “What day is it?” several times a day and “Whitey this” or “Whitey that”.

This weekend Mom and Uncle Allen and Uncle Allen’s grandson Daniel are taking the cover off the pool and getting it ready to use. Mom says that makes it O-fficially the beginning of summer here.

I love the lazy days of summer! Woo Hoo!

Whitey the Wondercat

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Whitey reminds us of Chuck on Dooce.com. He doesn't seem to mind balancing stuff on his head. What a good boy, Whitey. That mousie would last about a nanosecond on our heads.

On top of being the sweetest cat, he also cracks Mom up!

It's been 2 weeks and 2 days since Whitey was Gotcha'd. We think he's healing quite nicely. What do y'all think?

Whitey loves this mousie. He plays with it, sleeps with it, and apparently, he now balances it on his head!

Mom calls Whitey "Whitey the Wondercat", because it's a Wonder he survived all those years out on his own. Oh, and Mom and Uncle Allen weighed Whitey yesterday... He's gained .6 pounds! Woo Hoo!

Whitey has company

We had some company this weekend and they brought our cousins Ringo and Buddy to visit, too. Ringo and Buddy live with several cats. All of the cats out-weigh little Buddy, who is only 6 pounds!

Mom was expecting Whitey to hiss and hide, much like we do around dogs, but as soon as Whitey saw Ringo and Buddy he literally went ‘all Ninja’ on them.

Remember that Whitey is front-declawed - he did not hurt Buddy or Ringo. Mom thinks Whitey’s reaction to merely seeing the 2 little dogs certainly has something to do with his 3 years Outside fending for himself. It may even have something to do with his most recent injuries.

The whole thing lasted about 5 seconds. Buddy and Ringo’s Dad removed them from the room immediately. Whitey had to check every inch of the room to make sure they were gone before he would settle back down in his bed.

Whitey’s wounds are healing very nicely, but obviously, Whitey has some wounds on the inside that have to heal, too.

Shhhh... we aren't supposed to be blogging, but...

:whispering: shhh... we aren't supposted to be posting this weekend, because Mom says we are taking the long weekend off, but we found this and thought it was very kyoot!



We have watched it several times now but we still can not figure out who wins. We think maybe the kitties, because they all escaped.

What do you think?

We now return you to your regular blogging.

Finally Friday, the Memorial Day Weekend Edition

Mom says we’ll be taking a few days off, but we did not want to miss wishing all our brave men and women who serve a very Happy Memorial Day!

Thank you for your service!

We have quite a few members of our family and friends who have served or are still serving in every branch of the service. They span from the Korean War to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. We’ll be snuggling up to them and purring on them as much as we can this weekend!

We’ll see you all in a couple of days! Have a wonderful weekend!

Fev-vers!

The goosies have started growing their fev-vers! They are getting very tall and quite large, too! Almost all their yellow down is gone now; just a bit on their back and head is all that remains. Mom also loves that their footies looked striped now with 2 colors. She says they are transitioning. Their changes are noticeable daily. Soon they will look exactly like their parents.

By 8-9 weeks old, they will be flying. That is only a few weeks from now. Then Mom will be both happy and a little bit sad when they fly for the first time, because that means they will migrate and not return again until next Spring. Last year they stayed very late, into early September, because the goslings were not born until June – they were born on April 21st this year.

We wish Mom would let us go to the swamp to see them for ourselves! She thinks I, Gandalf, the Mighty Hunter, will hurt Molly and Fibber McGoose... or that Mama and Papa McGoose will hurt Gandalf.

Pish-tosh, Mom!

Updated: Aaack! Mom forgot all about our Gotchaversary today! She did a post on her blog about it here! Mom needs some of Auntie Bee's fish oil pills! hahaha!

Outtakes with Gandalf

Back, by popular demand...


...or something like that! hehehe.

It’s Good to be the King

Wordless Wednesday and Meezer Rule Wednesday

I iz Meezer?

Whoa! My life just keeps getting better and better! Miles and Sammy Meezer say I can be Meezer! They think I may be all or part Flame Point Siamese. They added me to the Simply Siamese blogroll. What's a blogroll?

Thank you very much, Sammy and Miles! I am proud to maybe be part Meezer!

I might need to start practicing my meezing!



PS. Mom's computer got deaded at her office by some thunderboomies and she could not help us visit hardly anybuddy yesterday. Even worse, she will probably be very busy all week restoring it. She's just a little crabilated - not too bad at all really.

We are very sorry. We will try to visit as many as time allows.

Mancat Monday with Whitey

Mom was worried that I haven’t been eating like she would expect me to eat. She decided to try Chick-hen flavor… nom, nom, nom!

I has been one week today since Uncle Allen Gotcha’d me! I am one happy kitty, I can tell you that! I hope that you can see that my boo boo is drying up. I do kind of keep scratching off the scab a little bit, but it is still getting better.

Mom says I continue to amaze her. I was sitting on her and purring the other day and she started massaging my footies. She discovered another one of my secrets… I am front-de-clawed. I don’t remember when that happened, so I forgot to tell Mom about it. Moms sure are good about finding out secrets, aren’t they?

Mom says it’s incredible that I survived on my own all those years without my clawrs…

No it isn’t Mom! I’m a Mancat after all!

A very discomfloofilated Grayson

What’s that, Mom? Oh, you’re talking to me? Because I was beginning to think you might have forgotten all about Grayson the Flauschie.

I need to be brushed, Mom. See? My floof is out of control. I’m all discomfloofilated.

No. I am not hiding from you behind this tree. But, you might have blown my cover a little bit for sneaking up on Evil Squirrel.

We have been tagged by Eric and Flynn! Our six important things that make us happy are:

1. Temptations! nom, nom, nom!
2. Weekends! Mom’s home!
3. Sunshines! Dappled sunshines with a light breeze… now that is hard to beat!
4. Sunrises! It’s our most favorite part of the day with Mom!
5. Being Brushed! We get brushed a lot every day, but never enough to suit us!
6. Head Scritches! Ahhhh… That’s very nice!

We will tag anybuddy who wants to play! The rules are simple:

• Tag and link back to the person who tagged you.
• List six (un) important things that make you happy.
• Tag six bloggers and let them know they're “it”.

Have a nice and Easy Sunday, everybuddy!

Saturday Matinee with Molly and Fibber McGoose

Isn't that the kyootest thing ever?!

Mom finally managed to catch Molly and Fibber running towards her with their wings out. It always cracks her up. We can assure you that she's watched the beginning of this video about a hundred times and laffed and laffed!

The goslings learn real quick who has the bread! Usually by the second day they come a-runnin’... always careful not to get too far ahead of Mama and Papa McGoose, of course!

Now, to answer a few questions we had in comments about Whitey... We'll let Mom do the talking.

Is Whitey staying? YES! Whitey is staying at the swamp! As the Gray Boys already said, Whitey was a stray in our neighborhood here in the Pecan Orchard. As much as I love him, Whitey already gets along beautifully with Allen's 4 cats, Cosmo, BooBoo, Sarah and Tucker Scissorhands. Since Allen and Barbara (no, different Barbara!) are planning to move back to the swamp in the next few months, we didn't want to relocate Whitey twice. He needs time to get well and get use to his new environment. I'll still get to see him every day and I'll still be his Mom!

What happened to Whitey? Whitey had a puncture wound that abscessed. It is actually very common for an abscess to occur when a puncture wound goes unnoticed or if not looked after promptly. The puncture wound may have been caused by a tooth, a claw or a foreign object. We'll never know. His injury started out minor, but festered for lack of a simple antibiotic.

Whitey needs time to heal and gain weight. For a cat that has been left on his own for at least 3 years that I know of, he is extremely social and sweet. He obviously use to have a home, but we'll never know why he was left to fend for himself.

At any rate, all that ended Monday. Whitey has a Forever Home now, and people who absolutely adore him!

And finally, YES! Whitey really, Really, REALLY does love Temptations and catnip!

Finally Friday with Whitey

the "Formerly Not Exactly Feral But Outside", but now I’m Inside, Smilin’ Edition!

Yesterday Daisy’s post told us all about a Smile Contest which Mom initially did not think we would enter. Then something awesome happened…

Mom emailed the above photo to enter me in the Smile2 Contest!

Then Mom decided to try an animated photo, too!

I am a very good boy. I am using my litter box. I am purring and talking. My eye already looks better - no more goopies - and the swelling has already gone down quite a bit. Did you notice that I have blue eyes? I cannot see very well with my blue eyes, but they sure are pretty, aren't they? Although some white cats with blue eyes are deaf, I am not. If I hear a sudden noise, I jump and turn around to see. Of course, I am also not completely white!

I follow Mom and sit on her desk and purr at her while she works. Mostly, I am working very hard to get better. Mom is very surprised that I haven’t shown the slightest interest in going Outside. Been there, done that, Mom! I have a home and people to take care of me now!

So, I do not mind if my photo does not win the contest, because I know I am already a winner!

Thank you to everybuddy for purring and praying for me! It’s working real good!

Overheard at the swamp

The scene: Mom’s desk

What Mom heard:

Feather: “Grrrrrrooowl”.

Whitey: Hisssssssss.

What they akshully said:

 

hehehe.

Whitey, Chapter Two

Gotcha Day +1

When Mom got to the office yesterday morning she was very pleased to find that Whitey had used the litter box! Woo Hoo! He was curled up in a white ball in one of our Hammicks. Whitey is already a big fan of Hammicks! That makes us feel very glad we told Mom it was OK to let him use our Hammicks… especially since we never use them any more!

Whitey gobbled up his breakfast and went right to purring again. Then he snoopervised Uncle Allen blowing up the air mattress so Whitey would have a great big comfy bed to stretch out on. Whitey is not so sure about the air mattress yet, but he sure does like the Hammick, the blue recliner, catnip and Mom’s and Uncle Allen's lap… a lot!

Mom took nearly 40 photos of Whitey yesterday, but he moves so fast! He does not know how to pose quite yet. Mom says he's so busy rubbing and purring that he can't be still. Mom’s favorite is the one above, which was akshully taken with her iPhone!

We know these photos are a bit graphic, but we promise, Whitey looked much worse yesterday!

You can see in the bottom middle photo that Whitey is quite thin. He only weighed 9.6 pounds. He’s a fairly long cat and should probably weigh 11-12 pounds. He’s also lost lots of furs because of mats and a poor diet. He’s shedding like crazy! Big balls of fur fly around with every scritch.

He also has a condition known as Stud Tail. The Vet thinks that being neutered now will help clear up Whitey’s greasy-looking tail over time. Of course, Whitey is eating like a King now and hopefully, he will soon be up to his ideal weight and his furs will be gorgeous in no time!

Guess what? Whitey does something that we do not do... Whitey gives kisses! Right on Mom's nose!

I know you must be missing some Gray Boys, what with all this Whitey stuff, right?

That ought to hold you over for a while! hehehe.

We’re both giving mom a thorough sniffing when she gets home, so we can also report that Whitey sure does smell much better than he did on Monday!

PS. Whitey really, Really, REALLY loves Temptations! We better go hide some private stash!

Whitey, Chapter One

Today we want to introduce you to our newest friend. His name is Whitey!

Whitey is a stray from our neighborhood. Mom and our Uncle Allen have been trying to catch Whitey for some time. Uncle Allen lives 5 doors down from us in the Pecan Orchard with our cousins, Cosmo Kitty, BooBoo, Sarah and Tucker Scissorhands. Every day our Uncle Allen would leave food on his front porch and Whitey would come gobble it all up. Whitey was very, very hungry. Whitey is mostly blind, Mom thinks from cataracts, but he could find his way to the foods!

This photo was taken on March 30th. Mom had to use her zoom to get it. Whitey had been injured somehow and had dead tissue hanging from his chin. You can see he had already had some healing from the injury on his chest.

Yesterday Uncle Allen was finally able to catch Whitey. Whitey looked much worse than this yesterday morning. Mom did not have the heart to take a photo of him yesterday morning before they took Whitey to the Vet. The injury had abscessed and spread to his face and eye. Whitey had a terrible odor, too. Whitey was badly matted and very thin.

First Mom had the Vet test Whitey for Feline Leukemia and HIV Virus and got the best news – no disease! Hooray!

So yesterday, Whitey got “The Works”! While under anesthesia, the dead tissue was cut away and his wounds were cleaned, he was neutered, bathed and combed. He’s had all his shots, including the wonderful antibiotic shot so Mom will not have to try to pill him. Mom requested that, and although our Vet doesn’t stock it, he got it from another Vet. He’ll have to go back in 3 weeks for his boosters.

Mom and Uncle Allen picked Whitey up last night and brought him to Mom’s office at The Swamp. Whitey will be staying there at least during his recovery time and so Mom can fatten him up, but will probably stay there permanently.

Mom told us that Whitey is the sweetest boy! He curled up in her lap all by himself last night, and then something wonderful happened… Whitey purred!

We will keep you updated on Whitey… This is just the first Chapter of the rest of Whitey’s life!

You can follow-up on Whitey's progress by clicking here.

Mancat Monday with Gandalf and Grayson

 

Happy Mother's Day!

We want to wish all the Moms a very Happy Mother’s Day!

 

Un-Ortened, Orton-ish and Orton Effect

Mom bought herself Photoshop Elements 7 as a Christmas present. She is still only just learning it. Let’s us just say that she doesn’t learn as quickly as she once did! Anyway, the other day Daisy commented that she was trying to figure out how Mom got that soft glow on some photos, without looking blurry. Mom went back and left a comment on Daisy’s blog explaining how she did it, but we thought it might make an interesting post for some of you who enjoy photography.

Mom’s newest favorite photo editing effect is The Orton Effect. <-That link is to a web site that lists the step-by-step directions to create The Orton Effect using Photoshop Elements. Another way to achieve an Orton-ish effect is a free photo-editing site Mom just loves called Picnik.com. Mom has the subscription to the Premium features but there are lots of great free features!

Evil Squirrel has been selected to illustrate three examples of the same photo.

1. The original, unedited, Un-Orten’d photo:

2. The same photo using a one-click effect from Picnik called Orton-ish:

 3. The same photo using Photoshop Elements and several, slightly more complicated, but not difficult steps - The Orton Effect:

So, what do you think? Do you have a preference?

We hope you will all go try Picnik.com! It's Fun and it’s free! Free is a very good thing!

Mom has to do some work today, so we may not be able to get around much to visit, but we wish you all a very happy weekend.

Oh, and Mom said we have to thank Evil Squirrel for helping us today. So, ummm… Thanks, Evil Squirrel.

Finally Friday!

Do you feel a song coming on, Gandalf?

(Click image below to play – embedding was disabled on this video!)

Yay! It's Finally Friday! Have a great weekend, everybuddy!

A Perfect 10

We wanted to thank everybuddy who went and commented on Mom’s niece’s journalism blog post. Holly got 47 comments from you all, which certainly contributed to her 10 out 10 score!

You guys ROCK! We give you all a Perfect 10!

Puggles: His First Year

Some of you may remember our friend Puggles and his Daddy Mike.

Mike is one of Mom’s very dear friends. He was wounded in Baghdad, Iraq about 4 years ago. Mike had a sweet English Bulldog named LaLa. Lala was born with a congenital heart defect and when she was about 2 years old, Lala had to go to the Bridge. Mike was about as sad as a person could be so last April Mike got a new English Bulldog puppy that he named Puggles. We posted about him here a year ago April.

Look at Puggles then and now! What a difference a year makes!

Puggles has just about completed all his Service Dog Training, except for the hardest part… he might have to go away for 6 months unless they approve the special application Mike’s wife Peggy filled out. It will be too much of a hardship on Mike to have Puggles gone so long, because he is also Mike's Companion Dog, so they may approve a personal trainer locally for Puggles.

We have never akshully met Puggles face to face, but we smell him every day when Mom comes home from work. We think he’s a pretty OK woofie, so we’re keeping our paws crossed for Mike and Puggles!

PS. Do you know what Puggles is really, really good at? Slobber! Boy, is he ever good at slobbering! Wow! You know someone is a true animal lover when they don’t seem to notice or mind Puggles Slobber! :-D

Mancat Monday with Grayson

Here’s one!