Monday Musings

This is going to be a mishmash of ideas all thrown together. Hope you can jump with me from one adventure of the next.

REAL HOUSECATS ON TOUR!

Yes, TW has been using her Real Housecats tote bag and bringing us with her wherever she goes. Last Caturday, in fact, we got to go to NY Yankee Stadium. The food was delicious, but the game … not so much. Then we took the subway back to 42nd Street.

The other day, she took us to Rite Aid. A woman commented on how much she liked the cats on the bag. TW responded by pointing me out and saying, "This is my cat." The woman looked over the cats, pointed to Mario and said "This is MY cat!"  Now I would've told M how happy I was to meet her, but TW told her "You don't understand, that really IS my cat! She's on an internet TV show!" Pop thought the tale was hysterical.

I WAS A PART OF HISTORY

Friday morning, I heard a lot of Airplane- and Helicopter-TV so I looked out the window. I was all alone because TW had abandoned me, saying there was something she had to see. Hearing the hubbub, I ran to my window to see what was the matter. No, I didn't see a sleigh and either tiny reindeer. I saw a plane riding on the top of another larger plane. TW told me that was the space shuttle The Enterprise making it's final journey. Technically, since it never was sent into space, this was probably it's ONLY journey. It's going to take up residence on the U.S.S. Intrepid in NYC. TW took a little video to document what she saw. It would've been longer but it was bright outside and she couldn't see into the viewfinder. You know how old she is. BTW, it didn't fly into our building, it just looks that way in the video. The peeps said it was historic. What would be really historic would be if TW cleaned my litter box right after I used it.

SENILE SATURDAY

I'm thinking of starting a new blog feature called Senile Saturday, where the little old peeps could have their say. As you know, I won't let my human post anything on my blog so this might shut her up. Maybe you could join me and we could make a Senile Saturday blog hop. A little bird told me that many of my furrends have humans almost as old as mine. The bird then met an untimely death. It was yummy. I mean, I'm innocent until proven guilty!

PLAYTIME

I'm happy to report that I've just about killed that tissue paper that I received as my present from Crème de la Cat  last week. I may be able to start sniffing around the toys sooner rather than later.

I'm also still guarding my Silvervine pillow. I double dare TW to try and take it away from me!

MAY CALENDAR

Book Review: Trouble the Cat

I was gonna make "Trouble" the Wednesday Word of the Day so you'd think I was in trouble yet again. But this isn't another post about CK getting in trouble for attacking one of her peeps. Ho-hum. Nope, this is different. Today I'm doing a review of the book Trouble the Cat by award-winning author PM Griffin.

I laid on the bed and made myself comfy as TW read this book to me. Once she started reading it, she couldn't put it down and I couldn't stop listening. At first I thought she read it straight through because it was the first e-book she ever bought and she didn't know how to save it and get back to it. I'm happy to report that she does know how to close and open the book and that we loved all of the 15,683 words.

We liked it because it moved quickly and had good plot and character development. We enjoyed the interaction between the main characters, both human and feline. My favorite characters were Trouble and Jasmine, two smart and other-worldly cats. I only wish TW had the power to understand me when I talk to her, like Dory and Martin could understand the two cat in the story. TW then explained to me that this book was fantasy and not a true story. I think she just doesn't want to admit that cats are smarter than humans.

Since this is our first try at a book review, we're gonna quote the publisher, Musa, so we don't give the entire plot away. The boldface is my own doing.

Can a fugitive budding sorceress and her brilliant cat escape the enraged mob pursuing them?An outburst of her newly awakened, uncontrolled sorcery talent made twelve-year-old Dory a fugitive.  Trouble, her indomitable cat, led her into a walled garden minutes ahead of the mob pursuing her. There they encountered the owner, Martin, a powerful sorcerer.  He listened to their story in growing excitement and offered to teach and conceal his guest – but the price would be high.

This book is a fun read. My ony complaint is that the book at dedicated to TW and not to myself, which would be more fitting.

You can buy Trouble the Cat for the low price of $2.99 from Amazon.com or from Musa Publishing, where you can download it in 4 different formats. You can also find these links on the author's website http://www.pmgriffin.com/

If you like fantasy, or just believe cats are magical, this book is for you. Those who become fans of Trouble the Cat and his human, Dory, will be happy to know that a novel of their further adventures is in the works.

Innerview with the Author: PM Griffin

Did any of your cats serve as the inspiration for Trouble and/or Jasmine

My tuxedo cat Cougar was the physical model for Trouble but not for his personality. Cougar was a huge cat and totally a gentle, timid giant. (Shamrock who came to me years later would be more the personality type.) Jasmine's personality is somewhat like that of my first cat, Daiquiri. She was shy, retiring, dainty, and very loving.

Can you tell my readers a little bit about your cats?

Three furry companions currently share my apartment with me. Being cats, they doubtless do have magic powers, but they follow the command of the feline deity Bastet and don't reveal them to humans.

Jinx, 13, is a standard brown tabby and came to me as a half-grown kitten who had been rescued from the outside world by my friend Maria. He spent the first fourmonths of his residence here living under my bed, mostly within the boxspring. He had first shredded the bottom fabric and removed the batting to enter it, of course. The sound of a ball or a toy mouse being batted around among the springs in the middle of the night is quite unique. He still retires there when anyone else comes in the house and has acquired the title of "The Cat Who Doesn't Exist." Jinxie does come out when my brother is here. Neil visits and feeds the three cats (plus the fish) whenever I am away.

Katie, 12, is a Singapura. She is tiny and very pretty, and she rules her domain with velvet-sheathed paws. Katie is total kitty Velcro, a furry little appendage who wants to be in my arms, in my lap, or in my bed. When none of the three are available, she sits in a sunny spot or on top of the aquarium lights, which are nice and warm.

Nickolette

Nickolette, 10, is another rescue, coming to me as an adult cat from Maria's daughter-in-law, who had found her wandering around. She is a beauty, a dilute tortoiseshell-and-white with incredible green eyes. Unfortunately, her front feet had been declawed. Nickie is a large cat and is very loving.

Have you always known cats have magic powers? 

Of course. As you well know, cats, by their very nature, are magical beings of the highest order.

My readers may not know you're an award-winning writer. Tell a bit about your accomplishments, past and present.

The novel GIFT OF MAGIC featuring Trouble and his friends is currently in edit. After that, another anthology of three more cat tales is scheduled for publication. Two of these won the coveted Muse Medallion Award and the third was a finalist. This award is from the Cat Writers' Association, and is the Oscar of the feline writing world.

My 12-novel science fiction series Star Commandos is also in the process of being released in electronic format with the first book, STAR COMMANDOS, already published and the second in edit.

Besides these, I have had four novels set in several of Andre Norton's universes published along with a number of other short stories.

TW said you also have had articles published in Cat Fancy magazine. Is this true? 

I had one nonfiction article called "Daddy's Patient" printed in the magazine. It told how my father saved Daiquiri when she was a tiny kitten, not yet even weaned. There were some shorter paragraphs as well, the result of my responses to some surveys run by CAT FANCY.

Also on the nonfiction front, I have had three articles in the Brooklyn Aquarium Society's magazine AQUATICA.

Thank you, Aunt Pauline. (I did ax her if she'd give us a hint about Trouble's next adventure, but she was on to this kitteh and politely declined.)
                                                                                                                                                             Disclosure: TW and PM Griffin are BFFs. Even though their personalities are very different, the common bond between them has always been their love of cats. But, no, their friendship doesn't play into my review. While we do want to publicize the book to a readership that we think will enjoy it, this cat's integrity comes before everything, including friendship. I always keep it real. I'll also disclose that we paid for the book and were not compensated for this review in any way.

Almost Wordless Wednesday

What could this stunning little ghetto cat be thinking??

Important news bulletin! 

We just got this in our e-mail box from Help for Hempstead Shelter. Please spread the word. We cannot allow this to happen! 

Action alert!

KILLER "KATE" IS AT IT AGAIN! ANIMAL LOVERS and ADVOCATES PLEASE UNITE! TOWN OF HEMPSTEAD IS USING OUR HARD EARNED TAX DOLLARS TO DESTROY A WELL MAINTAINED FERAL CAT COLONY that has been in peaceful existence for 12 YEARS! THIS HORRIFIC ACTION WILL BEGIN MAY 1st WE CANNOT ALLOW HEMPSTEAD TO DO THIS! THIS WILL OPEN THE DOOR FOR OTHER TOWNS ON LONG ISLAND TO DO THE SAME! COME SHOW YOUR SUPPORT! JOIN US THIS SUNDAY, APRIL 29th from 12:00 - 3:00 on the corner of Sunrise Hwy & Newbridge Road in Bellmore (for GPS use 2428 Sunrise Hwy - Bellmore) PLEASE BE SURE TO GET OUT and SHOW YOUR SUPPORT! Come alone or bring your neighbors, friends, family member & Pets! If you can, bring SIGNS! Please spread the word and post this message far and wide! PLEASE HELP SAVE & PROTECT OUR FERAL CAT COLONIES!

Mancat Monday—P Kitty

The Woman is smitten by a kitten. OK, those words aren't strong enough. TW is in LOVE with a grown cat, whose initials aren't CK. His name is Buster, but in the Alleys, we called him P Kitty Chuang. He's another member of my posse, along with Jamal Jonez, who you met a few weeks ago. When TW first saw P Kitty, she thought he was a homeless stray. He was so fat, she thought he was a she and she was preggers. She'd bring him food and pet him. Then she found out, he lived in the deli, which is owned by Chinese or Korean people and he started wearing his collar. He's also shed his kitten fat and is now svelte. To say P Kitty is a lover is an understatement. He's not stand-offish like Jamal. You could say he's an attention whore.

TW goes out of her way to pass the deli when she goes out in hopes of seeing P Kitty. She's even mentioned a few times that if the deli owners spoke a little more English, she'd ax them if they wanted to trade cats. Now how rude and inconsiderate is THAT! That's what I have to put up with and I'm not happy about it.

For the first photo shoot, he had just come around the corner, on his way to hang with Jamal, when TW spied him. She called and he came running down the block. You can see him running to her in the last photo. In the third photo, you can see her giving him scritches. Yes, this little ghetto cat is up in arms about it. Then TW realized he had to cross the street to get from his store to Jamal's place so she got worried. Now she's all nervous that he's gonna get hit by a car but P Kitty can take care of himself.

The many faces of P Kitty. He's a real sweetie who's wooed TW.

Poor P Kitty has hairball issues. Yes, you could say he needs a P Kitty Comb[ing]. HAH! Every time he lays on his back so TW can give him belly rubs—I know, how disgusting is THAT!—he starts coughing. Yeah, TW giving him belly rubs is enough to make ME toss my cookies too. At first she was ascared to give him belly rubs cos she thought he'd bite her like a certain other kitteh she has. She keeps threatening to bring one of MY combs with her so she can get rid of his loose fur. She mentioned today he felt soft and silky so someone not named TW must've brushed him.

She also wonders about whether he's been fixed or not. When she first saw him, the alley near the deli certainly had the strong perfume of Eau de Male Cat. Today, she got a look at his "male parts" and was surprised and delighted to notice that he's been all taken care of. It had occurred to her that she couldn't very well talk to the owners about it. She didn't know if their culture believe in spaying and neutering but now she doesn't have to worry about little P Kitties running around homeless.

All this brings me to a story. When TW was younger, she catnapped two of her then upstair's neighbors' cats because he wouldn't have them fixed. She and her friend took them to be neutered. She figured the neighbor wouldn't be the wiser since they often stayed out all night, looking for a hot date. She also knew the v-e-t who was going to perform the surgery because he'd performed it on Gramma's Nicky. Nicky wasn't shaved so she figured he'd do the same with Tippy and Freddy. Unfortunately, they were black tuxies and they were shaved "from stem to stern," as the story goes. The neighbor was on to them as soon as he saw his cats but forgave them since they saved him money. Years later, he eventually had Rusty and Hope neutered too.

I hope my furrends enjoyed meeting P Kitty. I'll bet he's the best mouser that deli ever had!

Happy Earth Day (but what does that have to do with the cat)

The Woman says that it's Earth Day and I should tell my furrends how I help save trees and stuff. What she means is that we have this great litter scoop that she bought years ago. Originally, it came with plastic poo bags to attach to the end so she could just scoop and the poo goes right into the bag. No muss; no fuss. No smelly garbage bags. Hey, Woman, what do you mean by that? I'll have you know, my poos don't smell! You know, you don't smell like roses! She then takes the bag filled with my pees and poos out and dumps it down the garbage shoot and it's gone. The part that makes it so cool is we don't buy bags. We use those plastic bags that our morning paper comes in. It's a great way to use those unnecessary bags. She says it's one of the great inventions of our time. HAH! That's just one of the ways our carbon footprint is tiny.

I'm gonna leave you with one of Pop's favorite songs ever. It's also one of the best songs about the environment we've ever heard. It's Don McLean's Tapestry. Even though he wrote the song over 30 years ago, it's truer today than ever.

Tapestry

Every thread of creation is held in position
by still other strands of things living.
In an earthly tapestry hung from the skyline
of smouldering cities so gray and so vulgar,
as not to be satisfied with their own negativity
but needing to touch all the living as well.

Every breeze that blows kindly is one crystal breath
we exhale on the blue diamond heaven.
As gentle to touch as the hands of the healer.
As soft as farewells whispered over the coffin.
We're poisoned by venom with each breath we take,
from the brown sulphur chimney and the black highway snake.

Every dawn that breaks golden is held in suspension
like the yoke of the egg in albumen.
Where the birth and the death of unseen generations
are interdependent in vast orchestration
and painted in colors of tapestry thread.
When the dying are born and the living are dead.

Every pulse of your heartbeat is one liquid moment
that flows through the veins of your being.
Like a river of life flowing on since creation.
Approaching the sea with each new generation.
You're now just a stagnant and rancid disgrace
that is rapidly drowning the whole human race.

Every fish that swims silent, every bird that flies freely,
every doe that steps softly.
Every crisp leaf that falls, all the flowers that grow
on this colourful tapestry, somehow they know.
That if man is allowed to destroy all they need.
He will soon have to pay with his life, for his greed.

Thankful Thursday

I want to Thank Cod for making me a Stunning Cat! Seriously, this Thursday I'm thankful to all my furrends with connections; those who sponsor contests and giveaways. I especially want to thank Cat Chat Caren and Cody and Crème de la Cat for the wonderful ribbon and orange tissue paper they sent as my prize from Cody's birthday pawty.

Whoa! Someone sent me tissue paper! Whatta you mean there's more?

TW tells me there were lots of wonderful toys in the package that other cats would go wild over, but all I was interested in was the tissue and ribbon. It went down like Christmas, hunnerts of dollars worth of cat toys and I play with the wrapping. Color TW mad.

Mine! All mine!. Thank you Caren and Cody!

This ribbon is my bi-atch!

My package included a Cat Catcher by Go Cat, a Slither 'n Snake refillable cat toy by Imperial Cat, a Pet Candy Stick by Pet Candy, a jingle ball, 2 mice, 3 pieces of Penny Candy by Pet Candy and a feather rattle. TW said the catnip was very strong and intoxicating; in short, very fresh unlike other stores she's ordered from. I'm sure I'll get around to appreciating them soon. I already did play with the cool wand toy by Go Cat since they're my favorites.

Thanks again to Terry Walker-Coleman at Crème de la Cat for the wonderful package they sent me. I really do like all my new toys, but I'm a cat so I have to act finicky.

Instant Replay

Can you believe, it's been almost a week since we've posted and all TW can come up with is a RERUN???? She is claiming she has Writer's Block! Can you believe this?? The baseball season is only a week old and she's completely shirked all her responsibilities to the kitteh. No blogging, no tweeting and, most importantly, NO PLAY TIME! I'm going on strike! Moreover, the Peeps haven't done anything amusing in, well, forever! They haven't had dropsy and there's been no major spillage. I think they're doing in on purpose. This leave me no choice but to rerun an oldie that few cats viewed and even fewer commented on. It's from January 3, 2010 and it was originally titled Bless Bess, What A Mess. Since we just had the Easter ham, uneventfully, I thought I'd muse about the good old days. Sorry I don't have any film footage of the actual event. I hope you enjoy it.
                                                                  ♧ ♣ ♧ ♣ ♧ ♣ ♧

Nom nom nom …

Our kitchen floor is the cleanest kitchen floor on the planet. The Woman doesn't use any poisons on it; she uses either dish soap and water, Method all-surface cleaner or the Bissell steamer I gave her for her birthday. We have the cleanest kitchen floor. Have I mentioned that? It's so clean, you could eat off it; and it should be because I do eat off it. Well, I have a dish and placemat but do prefer putting the food on the floor. I won't tell you about the inside of the fridge since TW's been tweeting for me but you probably know and I don't have to eat off it so I couldn't care less. It's all good as long as it doesn't inconvenience the cat.

On Thanksgiving, we had the turkey incidents. Yeah, that would be plural. First, Pop sprayed the raw turkey juice all over the place and out came the steamer to sanitize the floor. Then the Ajax came out to sanitize the counter. After the turkey was cut, the discovery was made that someone—I'm not naming names cos I like my Pop—cut through the aluminum pan and, again, the counter and floor were full of turkey blood. The Ajax and steamer came to the rescue. Everything was cleaned and sanitized. Everyone should have one of those steamers. The Peeps haven't eaten red meat since 1980 and TW says they may stop eating turkey too.

For New Year's Day and Easter, they make Virginia Ham—name sounds like a nice Irish girl. Again, it's the only time we eat ham. I really, really like it although the gravy is really, really sticky. They even give me my own plate to eat my portion of ham! We were going to have the leftovers today. Sounds like a plan, right? Nothing goes as planned in my house.

Yesterday Pop went to the Pathmark and while TW was putting away the goods, she moved the ham gravy to make room. Oopsy, wrong move. I don't think she meant to move it onto the floor but it wound up on the floor. All over the floor to be precise. I would've gotten a good laugh except it was my feeding time and I certainly couldn't go step in that sticky mess. Also, my package from SidtheCatahoula containing the first Pawpawty prizes I've ever won had come and I couldn't wait to open it up. Woman, clean this mess up—NOW!

Sticky gravy and chunks of pineapple were splattered as far as the eye could see. It was under the refrigerator and oozing onto the nice wood floor in the foyer. TW let out a shriek like I didn't know she was capable of and rolls of paper and cloth towels were pressed into service. Then, TW got a Pathmark bag to put the sopping wet paper towels in and pour the little remaining gravy in. Not THAT bag, Woman!! She didn't listen and she took a bag with a hole in it and that gravy dripped back on the floor only in yet a different spot. TW spent the next 20 minutes or so down on her knees scrubbing that floor for a second time. Her nice slippers were totalled too. (Can you tell, I'm stifling a laugh?) But the cat was thinking food and prize.

Clean that mess up or Elsie and I ain't coming down from this refrigerator!

Finally, by the grace of Cod, I made my way over the pass-along or whatever they call it and Pop gave me my skipjack tuna. Tonight I ate my food off the cleanest kitchen floor on the planet. News Flash: the cat did not get blamed for the mess. As for the peeps, TW made another mess—OK wrong word, dish—of gravy with orange juice, pineapple, pineapple juice, brown sugar, ground and whole cloves and they ate the ham and lived happily ever after.

Blog the Change—Cats and Secondhand Smoke

http://BtC4animals.com/

TW has always been leery of smokers and secondhand smoke and that heightened even more when her Mother died of lung cancer even though she never smoked a cigarette in her life. Her only crime was working for more than 20 years in a small space with 3 heavy smokers. At the time she worked, smoking was legal in workplaces. They could blow smoke in your face all day and you had to take it or quit and work some place else where everyone smoked. Gramma stayed, despite the fact that she had at least one horrible bronchitis attack every year.

Since the laws are different now, TW hadn't thought much about it until our new neighbors moved in. At least one of them smokes and it keep leeching into our apartment. Specifically, the part of the apartment where my food is. The kitchen. She decided to research and find out if animals were harmed by secondhand smoke the same way humans are. She found out—DUH—yes, they are. Seems like a no-brainer to this little ghetto kitteh.

"The correlation is similar to what is seen in children: Smaller lungs have less reserve and are more likely to be affected," says Laura Sullvan, DVM, in an article in Your Daily Cat. A Swedish study found that six out of seven cats had pathological changes in their lungs. This next par, which outlines the diseases that your cat runs the risk of developing if regularly exposed to secondhand smoke is quoted from their article, which you can read at the above link:

• Malignant lymphoma This aggressive type of cancer occurs in the lymph nodes and can be fatal. In fact, “Three out of four cats with this disease are dead within a year of diagnosis,” says Dr. Dickie. Cats living with smokers are twice as likely to get this disease, and the risk elevates with increased exposure.
• Squamous cell carcinoma This type of cancer plagues a cat’s mouth. A study conducted at Tufts College of Veterinary Medicine found there is a higher incidence of this illness among cats living with smokers for more than five years.
• Nicotine poisoning Feline explorers drawn to unknown objects, like a forgotten cigarette butt, are especially threatened by nicotine poisoning. The affliction occurs when a cat ingests tobacco. Cigarette butts contain much harmful nicotine -- about 25 percent of the nicotine of a whole cigarette -- so even a small cigarette butt can lead to the death of a cat.
• Asthma Cats exposed to secondhand smoke are not only more susceptible to asthma, but they also “tend to heal slower from respiratory diseases, such as viral infections and pneumonia,” notes Dr. Sullivan. Increased coughing and breathing difficulty is a possible sign that your kitty suffers around secondhand smoke.

Furthermore, a study done by the Tufts College of Veterinary Medicine showed that secondhand smoke has been associated with oral cancer and lymphoma in cats, and lung and nasal cancer in dogs, as well as lung cancer in birds. The reason we [cats] are so susceptible to secondhand smoke is because of our grooming habits. When we wash ourselves, we lick up the cancer-causing carcinogens that accumulate on our fur, which exposes our mucous membranes of our mouth to the cancer-causing carcinogens. You can read more at the LiveScience website.

An article in Petfinder.com quotes a study in Veterinary Medicine found that cats exposed to smoke from one to 19 cigarettes a day are four times more likely to be diagnosed with Squamous cell cancinoma—the most common and an aggressive type of oral cancer.

Another good article on the subject is on the Natural Cat Care Blog, which gives the alarming statistic that cancer is afflicting about 50% of cats over age 10 now. Can you believe half of all cats over 10 have cancer?!?! Plus, it's been affecting younger cats also. Cats are actually MORE vulnerable to toxins than humans. This article gives 3 ways to help prevent cancer in cats. I'll briefly list them and you can read the details in the original article.

• Properly introduce fish oil. Fish oil is actually as good for us felines as it is for peeps to maintain good health.
• Provide cat grass, which contain chlorophyli and B17, which contain anti-cancer properties.
• Be overly protective against common toxins—in smoke, insecticides, cleaning products, and yard sprays. That includes saying NO to flea chemicals that warn against contact with humans' skin.

On their website Americans for Nonsmokers' Rights summarizes how exposure to tobacco and smoking affects pets and what the health consequences are for pets so exposed:

How:

• By ingestion of cigarette or cigar butts which contain toxins.
• By drinking water that contains cigar or cigarette butts (which can have high concentrations of nicotine).
• By breathing secondhand smoke.
• By ingestion of nicotine replacement gum and patches.

Health Effects:

• Breathing problems in dogs and asthmatic-like symptoms in cats
• Salivation
• Diarrhea
• Vomiting
• Cardiac abnormalities
• Respiratory difficulties and respiratory paralysis
• Feline lymphoma in cats
• Lung cancer in dogs
• Nasal cancer in dogs
• Death: from 1-5 cigarettes and from 1/3-1 cigar can be fatal if ingested.

I'd imagine that much of this applies to smoke and the odor that comes under our door almost every day. Air-borne particles could wind up in my food and water, as well as on my toys that I bite on. I could become addicted or worse! Smoking in our halls and common areas are against the condo rules; however, there's nobody here who actually enforces any of the rules. We've complained to our impotent condo association and we're waiting for them to act. I hope they do before I become just another grim statistic of secondhand smoke from selfish people who feel it is their right to kill others.

Didn't realize that I'm addicted to that tar and nicotine in my food.

If you have any animals in your home, please consider kicking the habit or it'll lead to your beloved pet prematurely kicking the proverbial bucket.

Easy as ABC

When Spitty first tagged me for the Awesome Blog Content award, my first thought was to visit my prehistoric friend, the Thesaurus, and ax him to tell me all the synonyms for STUNNING. Then when Mariodacat also tagged me, I knew my readers deserved so much more from me.

A is for angelic and artistic 

B is for beautiful

C is for carnivore and CommuniPAW, where I came from

D is for diva and DJ

E is for elegant and eyes, which Pop says are my best feature

F is for famous and fabulous

G is for gangsta and ghetto cat and also generous

H is for humble

I is for intelligent and innocent of any crimes I am excused of

J is for jealous and Jamal, a member of my posse

K is for kink in my tail

L is for lovable and laser, one of my favorite toys

M is for magnificent and muscular

N is for norty and Nipclub,where I spin tunes

O is for original and outstanding

P is for perfect, playful and posse.

Q is for queenly

R is for regal. I always try to keep it real

S is for STUNNING!!

T is for tough and Tuna, my favorite food and the leader of my posse

U is for unappreciated 

V is for voluptuous vixen

W is for way cool

X is for X-rated language that I've been known to use

Y is for Yankee fan

Z is for Zzzzzzzzzz

I'm sure the rest of you can come up with some other superlatives to describe the magnificence that is me. Once again, I'd like to thank King Spitty and Mario for recognizing me. Thank you.

I'm not sure how many blogs I have to pass it along to because each of my presenters wrote a different number so I'll present it to how many I want.

now goes to:

My buddy Austin of CATachresis

Pumpkinpuddy of Adventures of a Suburban Kitty

Clooney and Neytiri of Clooney's Num-Num Fund

BTW: I was featured on PetMOZ as their Featured Friday blog. It was pretty cool of them. I just get more famous every day!

Hump Day History 101

Since my article in the Reporter has over 1400 hits, some of you may be wondering what the heck this sleepy little town is famous for besides me, of course. I'm gonna fill you in about a historical fight that took place a million years ago in my adopted home town.

This is the Hamilton Monument. Now I'm confused.
Did he win or lose?

In 1804 Aaron Burr offed Scott Hamilton. Woman, can't you see I'm lecturing? What do you mean Scott Hamilton is an ice skater? Alexander who? Who the hell remembers losers' names? Does anyone remember who lost the last Presidential election? Or who lost the World Series last year? How about the Super Bowl just months ago? Or what that other NY baseball team calls itself? No, we're all about WINNERS, baby.

Back to my lesson. I lost my original train of thought so I'll just hop on board another one. Seems the brother Hamilton must have called Burr's wife a ho or something or maybe it was that East vs West Coast gangsta thing. Now what? They weren't rappers? Oh, please just go away! … Where you going, Woman? I'm not through with this blog post!

HAH! I was right! Hamilton dissed Burr publicly and Burr took umbrage and offed him in a duel that took place not far from La Casa Keisha. Hamilton was fatally shot and Burr was charged with murder. Since he was part of the 1%, Burr never spent a day behind bars. It was discovered that the bro—that would be Hamilton, woman. Aren't you listening??—never fired a single shot, even though Burr claimed his life was in danger. Pictures from that day show the hoodie-wearing Hamilton posed no threat to Burr. The bro wasn't black? Were you there, Woman? Anybody knows a white guy ain't gonna shoot another white guy! Those who don't know history, Woman, are doomed to repeat it. Hope my audience is following me better than TW.

This is the plaque, saying roughly the same thing I said.

The answer is that TW wasn't there! Although she tried, she couldn't get tickets cos it sold out quicker than a Springsteen concert. I told you she was older than dirt and there's your proof. Even though this event took place over 200 years ago, she stood in line at TicketMaster (there were no computers back then), only to be turned away. She probably watched it on TV, unless the Yankees were playing at the same time.

And that, Kittehs, is the way it was.

(Pee Ess: If you click on the top pic, you'll see more pictures of the monument. If you click on the bottom pic, you can find out more about the duel.)

Marg Monday!

I usually don't join many of these Cat Blogosphere events cos I'm a leader, not a follower. Every rule must be broken cos I HAVE to honor Ms Marg of Marg's Animals. Marg is an inspiration and someone I look up to. She never turns an animal away and loves the ferals as much as the housecats. Marg, I salute you! Happy, Happy Birthday! May you live as long as you want and never want as long as you live. xoxo

✰✰✰✰✰

READ ALL ABOUT ME! If you haven't seen it yet, there's a front-page story about ME in the Hudson Reporter. It's now the 3rd most popular story of the year. Thanks to all my furrends who who visited already. I'm aiming for 2,000 hits so they'll publish it in their other editions.

Happy Easter

Tiptoeing through the Easter bunnies and chicks.

Love that Easter grass but Pop hides it so well I can't get it.
At one time this basket contains Godiva chocolate!

A Very HOPPY, er, HAPPY EASTER TO YOU AND YOURS. Hope you get lots of Nip and goodies and your peeps get CHOCOLATE! (POP BOUGHT THE 4 LB BUNY!)

READ ALL ABOUT ME! If you haven't seen it yet, there's a front-page story about ME in the Hudson Reporter.

EXTRA EXTRA!! READ ALL ABOUT IT!

IT'S HERE!!! I thought this day would never come. I'm ON THE COVER of the Reporter. Whoa! Head rush! And, it's also going to run in the Jersey City Reporter. The cats in my old hood will get to see me. Wonder if they'll recognize my stunningness? Who cares? I'm famous! I'm famous for being famous!

With the exception of calling TW "The Mother" rather than "The Woman," Ms. Pope did a wonderful job. She did a much better job than TW did scanning them straight! Without further ado …

The article is now up on the Hudson Report website with added pictures!

Click on the images to biggify. If you still can't read 'em, I'll give you
a link tomorrow when they put it on their website.
On a Mac, command shift + makes it even bigger.

Wednesday Word of the Day—Orange

I've taken the pledge and this blog will go orange after Easter. Click on the image to see all the ways you can go orange to stop animal cruelty, courtesy of the ASPCA. click on the gadget in the sidebar to sign the pledge.

Orange is NOT a popular color in this condo but animal cruelty is even less popular. In our area, if you wear Orange at this time of year, it means you're a Mutts, er, Mets fan and we certainly are not. Orange is also a color of the NY Knicks and we're not Knicks' fans either. I'm putting all that aside to show my support in the fight to stop animal cruelty and abuse. To honor the ASPCA, I've even gone Orange in my latest painting.

I'm gonna relate a story about Karma that I've already told some furrends. A long, long time ago, Gramma looked out the window and saw a neighborhood kid banging a paper bag against a wall. Then she saw there was a little cat in the bag. She screamed out the window at the kid. Some 15 years later, the peeps attended the funeral of this kid, who had turned into a nice, young man. At the age of 21, someone pushed him off a 19th story balcony to his death during a St. Patrick's Day party. The peeps felt very sorry for this young man and his peeps but couldn't get the image of him on that day—and the pain of that kitty—out of their heads.

UPDATE: Please read Bunny's Blog about the situation at Loew's Orlando Resort, then sign the petition.  I've said it once and I'll say it again, Florida is the most embarrassing state in the Union. What does it take to get a murder conviction or an animal abuse charge there? CORPORATIONS ARE NOT ABOVE THE LAW!

Cathy Keisha mania hits Broadway

They say the neon lights are bright on Broadway. They say a star is born every 15 minutes on Broadway or something like that. All so true. I've gone from the little screen to Broadway, thanks to Purina who just happens to make my 2 favorite kinds of stinky goodness. To paraphrase Patti Smith:

I'm gonna be somebody

I'm gonna get on that train

Go to New York City

I'm gonna be so big, I'm gonna be a big star and I will never return

Never return to burn out in a Kill Shelter

And I will travel light, oh, WATCH ME NOW!

Click to biggify the photo if you can't read the quote.

Just Another Manic Monday

In my haste to post my painting yesterday so I could do easy, I forgot to mention the Nip & Bones' Furrz Mob Shop-A-Thon. They are now taking pre-orders for Silvervine pillows like the one I'm playing with in my hit videos here and here.  In addition, here is my first close encounter of the Vine kind, thanks to King Spitty. You can order the pillows by clicking here. By the way, that's MY pillow in the pic. TW actually took a picture that's in focus! She claims its because the pillow wasn't moving and turning its head away like I do. Pfffttttt!  They also come in flowery and plaid patterned material. Better get your orders in because the pillow are almost sold out. I was honored to DJ at a Fundraising Pawty on Twitter Caturday night. I even donated one of the paintings, which was won by @ChrisGroove1. Support Baby Patches and her peeps.

I'm sorry if I haven't commented on all your blogs the past few days. I promise I'll stop by and visit everyone who's commented on my blog last week. I've already been to visit a few of you. Once baseball season begins, my blogging goes to hell in a hand basket (HUH????) because The Woman's priorities are all screwed up … and she calls ME bipolar. If any of you know what a hand basket is, please let me in on the joke. This little kitteh is NOT amused.

My April calendar. Once again, TW is late getting the calendar out to my readers. Now you have some idea why I bite her. You might note that I have the 6th (New York Yankees' Opening Day) marked on the calendar. With the peeps being such big NYY fans, that's a holiday around here. When TW was young, the 25th was known as "Secretary's Day;" but there aren't anymore secretaries. One look at the help wanted ads tells you that.

Easy on Sunday

I'm doing easy today on my favorite blue cotton/bamboo blankie. TW bought it for Pop but before he had the chance to use it, I claimed it. I jumped on it and yelled "MINE!" He didn't have a chance. I would think that something with bamboo in it would be hard like wood, but this blankie is as soft as a baby's bee-hind. HAH!

You might not know this but blue is my color. My Petfinder.com pictures were taken with a blue cloth as a backdrop.

Let me tell you the creation of my latest, greatest painting, which I call Alaskan Pollock because of the cool blues. Every time TW gets the i-Pawd out, I run and jump on the table or wherever she's using it. Then she HAS to let me call up the Paint App or unspeakable ills will befall her. Usually I'll stare at it for several minutes while I'm getting inspired. As soon as I called up the Blue palette, I was off! I walked all over the canvas, even standing on it to get the shading I wanted. It took me all of 1 minute to finish my finest masterpiece, seen on the wall as I do easy on my blue blankie. (I even saved it myself when I was finished!)

TW didn't do a very good job on this image. That does NOT look like
a painting on a wall, Woman! It looks like we're floating! Ack!