You haven’t mentioned Toasty the Rooster in awhile. Is he still on this mortal plane?
Toasty the Rooster packed his bags and headed for Freezer Camp last Saturday night, actually. He was a good rooster and did a decent job of keeping the hens protected, but we very much needed to get some new blood into the flock, so it was his time to shuffle off to camp.
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I’ve been meaning to ask, what kind of noise does Sheriff Mama make when you’re on the wrong side of the fence? My hubs and I like to sit on our swing outside, which happens to be within view of the front door. My cat sits on the other side of the door the whole time we’re out there, making the most pitiful, mournful meows because she’s not out there with me. Or because I’m not inside with her. But you make it sound more like Sheriff Mama is yelling at you.
It’s a squeaky meow, but she looks so intense while she’s doing it, that we KNOW she’s not kidding! Here’s what her meow sounds like:
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Sheriff Mama certainly seems to have the law-woman’s evil eye down pat. She sees what you’re doing and doesn’t like it one bit! I’m also amazed that she’s so light. Who is your heaviest cat out of all the permanent residents?
I suspected it was Newt, and a check of my notebook (I don’t weigh the cats all that often, but I try to do it about every three months or so, just to make sure they haven’t suddenly lost or gained a lot of weight. If I think they’re looking thinner than usual, I’ll do a quick check, too.) shows that I’m right. When I weighed Newt in July he weighed in at almost 14 1/2 pounds. Except for Kara (8 pounds, 2 ounces), Maxi (9 pounds, 2 ounces), and Miz Poo (9 pounds, 8 ounces), all the other cats weigh between 10 and 12 pounds. Of course, I have ZERO clue how much Stinkerbelle weighs, because I like my face attached to my body, so I don’t weigh her, handle her, or really do anything but occasionally pat her gently. I’d say that she probably doesn’t weigh more than 9 pounds, but that’s a total guess on my part.
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So does Dr. Melfi request that she be called by her title, or can I call her Melly for short?
You can call her anything you want, just don’t call her late for dinner! 😉 (I think Melly is a cute nickname – I’ve been calling her Melfi, Melferelli, Melf, Mouth.)
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BTW, is it me or do Silvio’s front paws look HUGE. Especially compared to his sisters.
I agree, I think he’s got some big mitts there, and he’s going to be a big boy. Or a clown!
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There’s a guy on Twitter, Adam Ellis, who’s doing a “#tinyhats4cats” thing. The cat who models the hats only has three legs, so some of us theorize that Maxwell (the cat) sits patiently and models the hats because it’s easier than running away. Anyway, it’s totally adorable and really creative. (Robyn, I see you’re already following him so you’ve probably seen it.) But I think the flowers are cuter. (c:
I LOVE Adam Ellis – I thought he was awesome before he got kittens, and now I think he’s awesome x 1,000. Also, he’s the one who put together the Buzzfeed article last week with one of my pictures at the top, so clearly he secretly (in fact, it’s probably so secret he doesn’t even know it himself) thinks I am awesome as well.
Also, I love his Derpy Portraits. I think Jake looks like he’s been real-life derped.
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Question: these kittehs and their mama look so different to me than the other litters/cats you’ve fostered, and it’s definitely the shape of their faces. They’re so triangular and Livia’s got those big ears like an Abyssinian. Is it just me or is this bunch kind of unusual?
I don’t notice it so much in the kittens, but I definitely notice it in Livia – her face is so exotic looking, I’ve wondered what breeds are in her background. Someone suggested – and they might be right – that Livia has some Oriental in her heritage.
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Is that formerly skinny Maggie, she who was regularly taken down by hordes of kittens, like unto a zombie attack? It’s so wonderful to see her looking plump and spoiled!
That is, indeed, the one and same Maggie. And for your viewing pleasure, here’s the video of Maggie being taken down not only by her own kittens, but I see a Spice Girl or two in there as well.
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Azaleas blooming in October?
We have Encore Azaleas, so they bloom in the spring and again in the fall. Also, we’re in Alabama. It’s the beginning of October and it’s STILL so freakin’ warm and humid out there that it’s making me long for the frigid (relatively speaking) days of January.
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Robyn, I have to know… At this stage in life, do kitten ears smell like marshmallow fluff? I just want to rub my nose on their cute little heads!
They smell like boiled peanuts! Which is more appealing than it sounds. 🙂
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Has anyone had any experience with using a catbib? Specifically for preventing the catching of chipmunks, birds don’t seem to be a problem. I live in CT and we have stone walls along the property–it’s chipmunk heaven. I’ve been trying to keep my kitty in as much as possible, but I’ve also got two new kittens and the older one gets kind of aggressive if she doesn’t get an hour or so of outdoor time. She hasn’t killed any that I know of, but she brings them to the back door and if I don’t realize that she has one in her mouth, I suddenly have a frightened chipmunk running around the house.
Back in April, Robin in Idaho posted in the comments that she’d had pretty good luck with the Catbib – you can see her comment here.
PS: I would theoretically like to have a chipmunk as a pet because they are SO CUTE.
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Question Robyn, when you see this sea of fuzzy, furry little faces and teeny feet, how do you decide who to kiss first?
I just grab whoever’s closest and get to kissin’.
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I may be late to the party on this, but I just found out that Maru now has a little sister, Hana! Check out lovemeow.com for super cute photos and video.
and
It’s never too late to party with Maru! And Hana is just adorable.
Also, just for the folks who want to see the original Japanese blog, here it is.
I love Maru and Hana!
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Pouty Silvio.
Sleepy Adriana.
Tony woke up, toddled over to me, and leaned against my leg, trying to wake up. I fear that I am going to just up and squoosh him ’til the Fluff comes right out his ears.
Carmela thinks that Meadow and Paulie Walnuts make fine pillows.
Livia keeps an eye on me.
The milk bar is OPEN.
“I kick her in the face with my big ol’ back foot, just like Mama does! Ha! Ha!”
Look how earnest Carmela is. “I could kick her in the face if I wanted to! But I don’t want to!”
“Why she not wanna kick me in the face? It’s FUN!”
Paulie Walnuts, having Deep Thoughts. Or trying to remember where the litter box is (there are only six of them scattered around the room, after all.)
::THLURP::
Silvio, thinking about his next move. The tail straight up in the air is killing me.
Paulie Walnuts, hangin’ around. Dr. Melfi hopes Paulie doesn’t fall on her.
The whole wee litter.
Meadow is absolutely killing me. Have you ever seen such a smug little face?
Paulie Walnuts looks like he’s bellowing “Onward, troops!!!”
The Sopranos kittens are one month old tomorrow (they were four weeks old yesterday). They seem to all be peeing in the litter boxes, as far as I can tell. I decided to put out bowls of Babycat (the kitten food Royal Canin makes; the pieces are very small) and no sooner did I get the bowls put down than Paulie Walnuts went over and started eating out of the bowl. First to use the litter box, first to eat kibble – that Paulie Walnuts is the genius of the litter, obviously.
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Oh, my beautiful Corbs. He has such gorgeous eyes. I swear, I could just sit and look at him all day long (except that it would make him nervous, and he’d skulk behind the couch to get away from me.)
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Previously
2012: Polly the Dryer Inspector thinks I don’t empty the lint trap often enough.
2011: Poor, sad, deprived kittens with no toys to speak of.
2010: (Reminder to self: bring ear plugs next time!)
2009: It’s just amazing!
2008: Pet store kitties.
2007: Their story is that they’re 5 sisters, about five months old, and they were, I believe, the kittens of a feral cat.
2006: So stop asking why, you stinkin’ peoples.
2005: Look guilty, don’t they?
1) That video of Maggie is, always has been, and always will be my very favorite!!!
2) Theoretically I would love to have a chipmunk, too!
3) Those kittens are sooo cute. I think I have a favorite (Paulie), but then each picture of the others makes me want them, too!
4) Corbs…my favorite bookworm. Still love him so. He was the CUTIEST babie!!!
Miss Mama L looks like she could even have some Abyssinian in her.
I agree! Those ears are awesome, aren’t they? (I mean, she’s awesome overall, but the ears are particularly so!)
I follow Maru’s japanese blog and I find it hilarious. I had no idea that the photos and videos also go on lovemeow.com, so I just compared a few posts, and I much prefer the japanese words – they’re funnier and more imaginative even though the english can be strange sometimes (and I can’t work out how to comments cause I can’t read japanese). I wonder why the lovemeow words are so different? Why wouldn’t they just copy straight from the original japanese blog?
I love Maru and he’s so cute with Hana. 🙂
I think it was Maggie who turned my heart toward mamacats. I’m happy to see her looking so content in her forever home! I would not be surprised if my next will be a mama who gave her kits a great start in life and waved as they left the nest, now ready for a home of her own.
Needless to say, I adore Livia!
All our mamacats have been really great cats. 🙂
By the way, one thing I just love is that the people who adopted Maggie did so because they decided she hadn’t had a chance to be a pampered kitten, and they wanted to give her that chance. 🙂
Aww!
how can you eat something you named?? if it has a NAME you can’t send them off to freezer camp. oh noes. LOL.
*Sensitive readers may not want to read this*
I don’t have an issue with freezer camp (grew up with farmers, not to mention hunters, in my family) but won’t Toasty be a little tough, given his age and that he is a rooster? Will he be a stew bird?
Coq au vin was invented for just such a bird. But any long-cooking stew (or stock) would be fine.
Long live crock pots! 😀
That’s why God invented pressure cookers too. They’re like a crock pot but in a fraction of the time.
Agree – the nice thing about a crock pot is you can set it and go to work and have dinner when you come home. No need to stay with it.
Yeah, all the chickens who were processed at the same time as Toasty are older and will need to be stewpot/crockpot/pressure cooker cooked.
Here’s a story- when I was a wee little crawler, my parent live in a former farmhouse that came with a couple of chickens, including a mean old rooster. Mean old rooster did not like little baby me, and so attacked me, scratching up my little baby back. So my parents took him off to the chopping block and offed his head. They then made him into stew, because he was old and stringy, but he had hurt their little one, and they were going to feast on him for it. You can eat any chicken with the right recipe and enough motivation.
I told this story to a friend recently and she remaked that it sounded like the sort of thing to give a person an unreasonable expectation for vengence.
Sure you can! Although to be honest, I never label the package in the freezer with the name of the chicken, so I won’t actually know when Toasty’s on the table.
*Sensitive readers ignore this comment too!**
Aw. too bad Robyn! I was going to ask you if you were going to have a piece of toast with your piece of Toasty! 🙂
(Honestly – I’m really not this unfeeling – I don’t like any meats that are called the same thing as when they’re running around – chicken (although I’m learning to eat it), turkey, any sort of fish. It just struck me funny today.)
I was just going to ask about this (labeling with names) – so how do you keep track of what chicken in the freezer needs to be crock-potted/etc vs. what can be fried/roasted/baked?
And thanks for this timely reminder that I wanted to try a new chicken recipe tonight. I always forget to get the meat out to thaw. (c:
My favorite memory of Maggie actually has to do with one of my former fosters, a little long haired grey kitten named Pippa. I have a tortie named Maggie and whenever I let Pippa and her brother out of their room, Pippa went right to the cat tree and climbed up to where Maggie usually was and proceeded to get a bath from Auntie Maggie. Pippa and Shorty were at Petsmart as the same time as your Maggie so one day when I was there, knowing how sweet your Maggie is and how much Pippa probably missed her Auntie Maggie baths, I put her in with your Maggie and she started to give Pippa a bath. I was in tears. It was so sweet seeing the look of bliss on little Pippa’s face. I think Maggies are just special kitties 🙂
Awwwwww…..
SO sweet!
Resist the temptation to have a pet chipmunk. They will tear up your house. I love to watch them and they provide hours of Cat TV for my kitties but oh noes to the coming inside thing. I am a huge Sopranos fan and each time I look at these babies I see the character from the tv show and this has been just so much fun. If you knew how Livia was on the show and how she treated Tony you would faint. Our Livia is a much, much, much better momma.
But – but – but Elizabeth Taylor had a pet chipmunk when she was a child! 🙂
Yu got me there but really? A chipmunk in the house? Terrible idea unless you raise it from birth or sumting. I speak from experience.
Of course, Elizabeth did end up with all those fabulous diamonds so maybe there is a reward for having a chipmunk inside. Why not just get a monkey. No problem there….
OMG – I don’t think I have seen that video. She DID get run over. I love the one kitten popping up in the middle facing the wrong way after she fell on him/her going all “what just happened here?”
Paulie may be my favorite….
I saw your “The Big Slipper” photo on http://catasters.tumblr.com/ this morning. It really is a charming phot, so I can see how it gets around! Really enjoy all your photos and stories.
Thanks! 🙂
It’s good to see that Maggie’s recovered from being eaten live by mindless, relentless creatures. I think that bow brings out her eyes.
Iknow a lot of people go nuts for kitten tails or lttle feet but those babyfine whiskers reduce me to a puddle!
And geez, that picture of Silvio just reinforces my view that those paws are HUGE. I hope he’s not as big as Gracie or George by the end.
Meadow is just killing it today and we so need a video of toddling Tony. I want to use that as his nickname, Toddling Tony.
I do need to get a video of the toddling Tony – although all of a sudden he’s moving faster and at a more self-assured pace. That seems to happen overnight!
That’d be a good Mob nickname too. “In today’s news, Tony ‘The Toddler’ Zambini was charged with aggravated adorableness…” I think we need to give them Mob nicknames. Do girls get Mob nicknames too? Seems like Paulie Walnuts has got one already built in.
oh, Paulie Walnuts, I heart you big time!!!
Paulie Walnuts theenk you haff good taste.
Meadow is saying “CHEESE” !!!!!!
Hello Corbie !!!!!
When the kittens start eating kitty food but still park themselves at the ‘milk bar’ are they actually getting any milk? Is it more just a comfort and habit to suckle theirs Mamas ?
They’re actually getting milk – as long as there are kittens nursing, the mamas will continue to produce milk. I’ve had Mama cats who’ve had to go off to Petsmart before their milk dried up because they’re so patient with the kittens continuing to nurse.
I agree, Mama Liv has exotic facial features. Perhaps some Siamese genes. Also, her body is very sleek.
She has really silky fur, too!
The cat bibs…. I have had a lot of luck with them stopping the cats from getting birds… but they still get small mammals. I would say, give it a try, if your kitty is not too intent on getting the chipmunks, it might be enough interference to put a stop to the catching. My one cat wore his for probably 6 months and has not needed it since, he was not as intent at the other cat. The other cat needed a larger bib than is sold on the website, so I made him one myself and that has worked for the birds. They do still get moles, voles, mice and snakes frequently.
Beautiful pictures and such gorgeous kittens. Mommy appears to be doing a great job and I’m so glad that I’m not looking to adopt because I would want them ALL!!