Shaggy Feels Better

I'm feeling much better since yesterday afternoon.  I'm eating and begging for more as usual.
I was really down & out there for a while.  I just wanted to hide away and sleep it off.

Go ahead...rub my belly!

We have neighbors two houses down that put out raw chicken if they don't use it up for themselves.  They put all kinds of leftovers, our neighbor Beth saw spaghetti in the yard once.  Mom thought they just put out old bread and birdseed. The thing is, they are from Pakistan and things are different here.  Beth has to keep close watch on her young yellow lab.  If he smells food he will run to that yard and he's been sick too.  The day before I got sick, I sneaked away from our yard and didn't come even when I could hear Mom calling and calling for me.  I come home on my own time, you know.  She caught me coming from the direction of that yard, but didn't know if I had been there or to the closer house watching the nest they have under their deck.  She scolded me for disappearing when I went out to help her read her book.  I quietly slipped away.     Mom didn't know anything about the food until she mentioned to Beth that I wasn't feeling well.  Beth asked if it is possible I ate that raw chicken they threw out that sat in 80 degree heat all day.   That's when Mom put it together that she did see me coming from that direction.  Now she doesn't know for certain that's what happened, and I'm not telling, but her intuition says "bad chicken."
Anyway, I'm better healthwise.   And Thank you to all the blogosphere kitties who purred for me and sent all those "feel better vibes" my way!  -Shaggy

Purrs for Shaggy

Shaggy has been throwing up his food these last few days and has been pretty lethargic.
This morning he wasn't there to greet me and escort me to the food cupboard when I opened the bedroom door.   He didn't come when I opened the can (highly unusual!) or when I called for him.  I conducted a search and found him hiding under the pool table in the basement between some boxes we've got stored under there.

Sunday, a week ago. 

I took his food down for him but he won't eat.     I closed the basement door so he can rest and eat if he wants to without Scout bugging him or stealing the food.    It's dark and cool downstairs.
So today I'm asking for the Power of the Purrs from the kitties of the Cat Blogosphere.  Marvelous things happen when everyone purrs together!   Thanks gang!   - Mom Lynne

MRI Results

Mom got the call from the doctor's office this afternoon with the results of her MRI.
She has tears on two of the muscles of the rotator cuff and some nerve damage.
She needs to go back for another MRI for further evaluation, which will be scheduled whenever the referral lady gets her stuff together and calls.
In other news, Mars, the next door kitty, not the planet,  has been escaping his house next door and spending time with us on the front steps.   We allow him to do that.  He's a real mild mannered kitty, 12 years old like Shaggy.  His people always know where to find him.  Even if Mom isn't out he will call to her with the tiniest little "mew" you can imagine.
 He's a cool cat.

Bug Hunting in the Grass

I Caught Him!

Smelling the spot where I trapped him

I caught that chippy!
I've been stalking him all summer.  He lives under our low front deck and Shaggy & I can hear him rustling around it all day long. When the window is open in the house we can hear him make his little chirps. Sometimes he makes mad dashes out from underneath to gather food and do chipmunk things. I caught him last week.  I was quicker than he was for once and I trapped him against the front steps with my paws and grabbed him by the neck, like a momma cat does with her kits. 

Mmmmmm,  Chippy!

Then I took him into the grass and laid down on top of him, thinking what to do next.
Mom was all: "You got him Scout! You got him!"
But then she made me turn him loose!  My prey! My Chippy! "Let him go now, Scout" she said.
She lifted me and off he ran.  Straight up the trellis!  Bast!  I had him too!   Cheeky little devil then sat up there chirping at me and flouncing his tail in my general direction. 
I got him once, I can get him again.  Chippy Beware!   -Scout
Mom had her MRI yesterday.  She was all tranked up and zoned out which is good because she was in the tube for 1/2 hour.   Dad drove her home and she slept until 7 pm then went back to bed at 10 pm.   Results in about a week. 

Purrs for Mom

Mom hurt her shoulder in March and tomorrow she's going for an MRI. She's a little nervous about being closed in the tube so we offered her some of the fresh nip we got from Alya, Iza & Marley.
She said she'll take the tranquilizer from the doctor instead so we can save our nip stash.  She's nice like that.

  Seriously, how about some purrs for her tomorrow.  She'd like them to find out why there is still pain, and now muscle weakness has developed. It's hard for her to grasp and lift anything too heavy, such as a milk carton, or lift and rotate the arm to put on a shirt. Sometimes she has trouble lifting a book or her purse or a cat.  Watch your person use their arm and see how many turns and motions they make with it and you'll get an idea of what mom is now having trouble doing.  
Thanks for the purrrrrs!   -Shaggy

Thanks Ayla, Iza & Marley!

A Box!

We gotted the door prize we won from Ayla's birthday party!








Surprise!

Wonder what's in here?

It wasn't a door.  We were thinking it might be a kitty door so we could go in & out whenever we wanted to!

There could be anything in here!
It could be a Major Award!
Or a Bowling Alley!









These prizes were even better!
Look!  Rattly mice!  A whole flock of 'em!  I love to have mom throw those at me and bat them across the floor in the kitchen!
Look!   A mousie toy
Look!  Chick-hen bites!   They are very nommy and healthy too.  Just not too many at a time.
 Mom gave some to Zolie too!

S-N-I-F-F

And best of all......
NIP!  Gigantic nip leaves
Fresh from their garden!  The leaves were still as fresh as the day they were picked.  They didn't wilt in the mail at all.   We couldn't smell them through the package at all because TBT packed them airtight into a zipper bag.  But the second mom opened it and that enticing aroma wafted out........well, we went blotto pretty quickly!
Mom let us sniff & nom on the entire stalk but then.....she put them away in the zipper bag to be rationed out!
Rationed!!!!
Like we're in the Gulag or something!

Primo!

Ahhhhhhhh

Dude!

Zzzzzzzzzzzz!


Thanks Ayla, Iza, Marley....and TBT!

The Windows are Open Again

It's been a couple months since the house windows have been open. 
Seriously.  It's been stinking hot and humid for that long.  They left the central air on while they were gone this last week but opened the windows when they got back.
The weather has suddenly changed. It is cool out and feels like fall.
It's too early for this!  We've had beautiful hot weather, a new July record.  The hot stuff will probably come back, mom hopes so, she likes it.  But now that it is August it probably won't last long term like the summer hots do.  

Window whiffies are great!  It's good to have them open at night and hear the crickets and the birds when they wake up at dawn.   Mom likes the fresh air flowing through and the connection with the outdoors that isn't there when then the house is all closed off.
There's birdies in the tree outside this window in mom & dad's room.  Hours of entertainment!

They're Home

 And no treats or presents from them either.

They seem to think their mere presence is reward enough for after abandoning us for 4 days while they are out gallivanting around their hometown,  partying and eating all the junk food they want while getting all likkered up with their old high school chums at their 35th high school reunion and the towns 125th anniversary.

Toby says "unfair" too.

All in all it sounds like a perfectly dreadful experience with noisy parades,  rock & roll music on the downtown boardwalk every night, eerie clowns for the kiddies, and a huge fireworks show last night over the river that flooded 15 years ago and nearly wiped the town off the map.

Actually mom is exhausted.  Her back gave out Friday night and she had to leave early to go back to her friends house where mom & dad stay when they "go home." But dad stayed out till 1 am.  Mom was on her feets nearly all day and she has a bad back.  Saturday (yesterday) was better, she could do more sitting, plus she drugged herself up to ease the pain, but she was up till nearly 2am. After the party on the boardwalk ended and the bars and likker tents closed up their group of friends went out for pizza.  Sounds like treats galore for them, none for us. 

Payback is pending.
Any suggestions?

Leaving Us Again

Mom & Dad are leaving tomorrow until Sunday.
Their hometown up north is having a 125th anniversary celebration of the founding of the town. Funny, we never knew it was losted!
Neighbor girl Allison will cat sit us. Mom remembers when she was born, and now she is starting high school! We hope to con extra canned food from her.  Toby is hoping for extra grapes! 
We'll miss all of you, friends!  
Back soon!
-Scout

Chair Wars!

 Seems like we have some unpublished pictures piling up in the computer!
Here's me with Scout during a very rare nap with each other.
 As you can see from the bottom pictures, I left after a bit.  Really, he annoys me!
Then you can see that after Scout woke up and vacated the chair, I re-claimed it for myself!

Scout did something nasty yesterday.
He's been trying to take over as alpha cat in the house.  Mom didn't witness it, she was out getting groceries.  But when she came back I was on her bed with a damp ruff on my neck on the left side.    The furs were kind of stuck together and needed combing out too.   She's seen it before and knew immediately what the little beast did.  Jumped me and went for my neck to make me be submissive.

 She is worried that I seem to be aging too quickly since Scooby died.  Slowing down and sleeping a lot more.   Well, I am 12 but at my last check-up the v-e-t said he would expect me to keep on going 5 years or more.
It seems like it is my time to "retire" and let the younger generation take over, as annoying as that might be. 

 Just look at that smug, self satisfied smirk!

-Shaggy

4 Months Missing Scooby

 Yesterday was 4 months since Scooby went to the Rainbow Bridge far too early.

Seems like longer than that, and the hole in my heart is still so sore and empty.
I miss this Tuxie boy so much.
He was the epitome of gentleness.
From his glossy fur to his soulful green eyes and that plush, soft belly to the tips of those ears, I miss him so.
Today I gave his littermate Shaggy a good long brushing and told him all the fine things I remember about his brother.