Sad September 1

You may have seen the news on the Cat Blogosphere that today is Roxy's birthday. Unfortunately, we have sad news for you all. Our baby doll Roxy crossed the Rainbow Bridge back in early April at the age of ~5.5 years old after a sudden illness. We still miss her so much. Yeah, we know that The Mommy kinda considered her, and Callie, as the favorites; and yeah, the rest of us were a little jealous. But we didn't want both of them to cross the Bridge within 16 months of each other!

She was such a beautiful calico girl, a good sister to the furry butts and a great lap warmer and companion for The Mommy.  We hope her and Callie are enjoying their time napping in the sun, chasing mousies and romping around with other CB friends over there across the Bridge.  Give your furries/feathers or other non-human friends an extra pat in Roxy's memory, yeah?

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On another note, we know it's been nearly a year since we last posted (or visited), and we appreciate those of you that still come by and post comments from time to time to let us know you're thinking of us; we think of all you guys, too!  It's been some busy months for The Mommy, made worse by various health issues, some easily taken care of and some not so much.

We hope to start posting and visiting again, although it'll likely be sporadic and with no real schedule.  Some of her health issues remain, including a chronic condition that changes life to a "new normal" kinda thing.  But we're keeping positive and upbeat as best we can, and look forward to seeing what everyone has been up to!

Love, hugs and purrrrrrs to all,

The Kitty Krew and The Mommy

Bugsy and Sassy's Birthday

It's our (observed) birthday today, along with our sister Callie, who became an Angel at the Rainbow Bridge last December. We're 7 years old now (yes, Ziggy and Pixie, Bugsy saw that crack on Tuesday about being "so old" now...he can still whip your butts, you young whippersnappers!), even if Callie is forever 6.

Recently, we received some beautiful ink drawings of our lovely angel Callie that we had commissioned from The Ball Guy (you know him from our dear friends at The Monkeys), and in honor of her birthday at the Bridge, we'd like to share one of those with everyone now. We think this is our favorite...but it changes everytime we look at them.

Isn't The Ball Guy great?? We heart him. Thanks so much, Ball Guy!

But today is not a day for sadness; no, today is a day for a birthday party, combined for us and Gypsy! So come on over and party party party with us all, and we can lift a niptini glass in honor of Callie as well. Come and go as you please all weekend long, there's plenty of food and drinks for everyone -- sorry kittens, pups and other youngsters, milk only for you.

Be here or be square!

and

Tortie Tuesday Tribute and Angel VSquillion

Time again for another Tortie Tuesday Tribute, in honor of our sweet Callie. Regular readers will recall that our beautiful girl went to the Rainbow Bridge unexpectedly back in December, a week before Christmas, at the regretfully young age of 6. It's been nearly 3 months, and The Mommy still looks around for her sometimes, calling her name during one of those roll calls of 'where is everycat'. We miss her bunches.

Below is a montage of some of the many Faces of Callie (bigify to see better). While most photos are unrelated to each other in the time and space continuum (MOL), the 3 in the lower right were all taken on her last evening at home...though we didn't realize that at the time. The second photo in the upper left is classic Callie, she loved to lay with her paws crossed like that, she was quite the little lady!

We'd also like to introduce our newest blog family member, our Angel VSquillion, Callie, named obviously in honor of our dear Callie. We had previously adopted another VSquillion, Caleb, in honor of all our CAts who LEft Before, but when the Angels became available, we decided to adopt one specifically for our most recent angel.

Thank you to Miss Gracie and all the others who handle the vSquillion adoption processes!!

We love you and miss you, Callie Boo.

Tuesday Cat-O-Lympics - Synchronized Snoozing!

You have all probably heard about the Cat-O-Lympics being held all over the Cat Blogosphere this week, started by the incomparable Fin with events being suggested and/or hosted by many other kitties. We didn't come up with an event to host (though the laser eyes we did on Saturday would have been a fun event if only we had thought of that! d'oh!), but we're going to try and participate in some.

Today, we're participating in an event that our friends The Island Cats came up with - Synchronized Snoozing. Now, normally, we don't much snooze next to one another, so you won't find us all curled up together like the cute photo of Ernie and Wally on their bloggie yesterday. But as it happens, The Mommy had just taken this photo on Sunday and she realized it was as close as we would probably be able to get for an entry into this event, so figured what the heck!

This piece of furniture might be known to most humans as a "curio shelf" or "knickknack shelf"...but of course, to kitties, it's a "napping tower". You'll notice that one shelf does not have a proper napping towel, but that's only because none of us ever snooze on that shelf (or do we not snooze there because there's no towel? Hmmm....). But in this photo you can plainly see that Gypsy on the lower shelf and Pixie on the shelf above her are both snoozing away in perfect synchronicity...synchronicity...synchronicity... (oh, sorry, The Mommy started hearing The Police in her head while she was typing! )

BUT! Did you notice the ear and furs poking up on the very tippy top shelf? You may have to bigify to see, there's a third kitty enjoying the synchronized snoozing of the kitty tower - Ziggy Boy was also snoozing away on that Easy Sunday afternoon! So we have a Triple Synchronized Snoozing going on!

We do have a second entry, going for that all important tug-at-the-heartstrings sympathy vote. Teehee.... We've been looking for the perfect use of this adorable photo, and this seems like just the time. We present to you, the Reverse Image Synchronized Snoozing, starring Roxy and our dear Callie, which occurred just a couple of weeks before we lost her.

We hope you've enjoyed our Cat-O-Lympic entries!





PS - A slight pimping of The Mommy's bloggie - it's stormy there today!

Tortie Tuesday Tribute

It's time for another Tortie Tuesday Tribute, featuring our dear Callie. For those new or newish to the bloggie, Callie became ill unexpectedly in early December and passed on to the Rainbow Bridge a week before Christmas. At that time, there were still quite a few good photos of her that had never been posted, so The Mommy made several collages of them and we've been sharing those one or two at a time since then.

This first collage is a series of photos taken just the night before Callie passed. The Mommy had received a package in a rather small box, and Callie was determined to take a nap in that box -- and by golly, she managed to fit herself in all curled up! (Biggify to see better)

This second collage shows Callie in some of her favorite napping spots. The upper middle photo shows her curled up in the corner of the couch, just where we pictured her being in the photo shown on last Friday's post of the 6 of us left behind...

*Sigh* We really miss Callie.

Thankful Thursday

A few weeks ago, we got a wonderful email from our friends Tristan and Crikey:

"We had the highest bid for the print over at Fiona's auction! The print was donated by The Creek Cats, in honor of their sweet Cal (he's at The Bridge now). Well... we would like to have this print sent to you in honor of your sweet girl, Callie. We thought of her when we saw the print:) "

Isn't that so very sweet? We accepted their lovely offer, and a week or so later, this beautiful print arrived at our house:

It took another couple of weeks for The Mommy to get it framed and hung, but here it is (yeah, the photos aren't all that great...trust us, it looks great on the wall!):

Thank you so much to Tristan and Crikey and their mom, and also to The Creek Cats for the donation of the print to the auction and for sending it to us. It's so great to have such wonderful friends in the Cat Blogosphere, and we very much appreciate it. The print of Miss Maggie May the Tootlebug will remain in a place of honor in our home, in memory of both Cal and Callie, as well as a great reminder of our friends Tristan and Crikey and The Creek Cats. We love you guys!

Tortie Tuesday Tribute

It's time for a Tortie Tuesday Tribute post, in honor of our dear Callie. She's been gone 3-1/2 weeks now -- has it only been 3-1/2 weeks? Has it already been 3-1/2 weeks? Time both flies and crawls all at the same instant.

Thinking of her being a guardian angel for Saturday's Sextuple Cat shot made me think she'd have been right in there lying there on the carpet, on her back with her belleh waiting to be snorgled. That was one of her favorite napping positions. I had a few of those unposted belleh shots -- waiting to be posted but that never made it -- that I put together in a collage as they're too cute not to use. (As always, you can bigify to see better.)

Callie also just loved the hairy blankies we got from Peggy, especially if I was on the couch with her but even if I wasn't. As these previously unposted photos show, she would even put up with other kitty company if she had to, to be able to lay on a hairy blankie.

We have more Callie photos to share, but that's it for this Tortie Tuesday Tribute. We hope you enjoyed them.

T'was the Day After Chrismouse...

We hope all you kids out there had a great Chrismouse. Ours was quite awesome; Santa Claws was pretty darn good to us. He was even good to The Mommy. But since this blog is all about us and not her, let's get to the good stuff.

Look at all that!! You might wanna bigify to see better. The lower left photo shows all of it, and the other photos show each thing. There's a stocking filled with balls and mousies and other nifty toys. And two soft fuzzy cushions/beds. And a soft fuzzy throw thingy (it's folded in that photo so looks small, but it's bigger than that). And a really great big fuzzy hairy bed (the material on it feels like the great hairy blankies that Miss Peggy makes!). And new cardboard for the scratchers! (Pixie's already trying that out in the lower left photo. MOL) And the lower right photo....ah, that's a mystery. It's a big box. It hasn't been opened yet, The Mommy says there's 'sembly required and maybe she'll do it this weekend if we stay good. WHAT? We have to stay good past Chrissymouse day?? Sheesh. As Alfie and Milo would say, 'snot fair.

Although that new big bright pink bed looks comfy, none of us has actually tried it out for napping. But we've sniffed around and done some biscuit making on it, testing it out, kicking the tires as it were. The Mommy figures one or the other of us will give it a shot eventually, probably Sassy or Pixie. She thinks Callie would have loved it.

The two gray leopard print cushion/beds went onto the window perches in the den, to give them more support and warmth this winter. We like that idea, and Sassy has given it her nap of approval. Lookit at that top left photo out the window over the cushion, we actually had snow here on Christmas Eve! That's some of what was left in the backyard on Christmas morning, but the sun was out all day and it was melted by mid-day even though it was still cold. The gray stone-pattern throw went on the wicker-seat bar stool that Gypsy sleeps on half the time; The Mommy did have a fleece throw on there to keep Gypsy comfy but this new one seems softer and comfier, and Gypsy appears to like it just fine!

And just when we thought Chrissymouse was mostly over (other than that box...), The Mommy brought in the mail from Christmas Eve that she hadn't gotten yet, and there was a surprise package from Baby Patches and her mommy with a sweet condolence card about Callie. In the package, they included two of their catnip candy canes! Whoa, that's some strong catnip in those canes, too, The Mommy could smell it almost before even opening the package. Even Gypsy came into the den from the dining room, her usual hangout, to check things out!

Thank you so much, Miss Baby Patches and your family, for both the card and the candy canes. A big thank you also to the Kool Kittie Krew for the card they mailed, as well as to the Island Cats, Fin, Sam and Andy, and JB's crew for the special Christmas Day messages you sent us in support and remembrance of Callie, and to all our dear friends who have been supporting us through comments, posts, emails and mail since we lost Callie last week. It has all been so very appreciated, The Mommy gets leaky almost as much from all the kind words and support as she does from the loss itself. We wuv all you guys!

Okay, enuff of that, we need a nap to recover from Chrissymouse now...

Sunday Salute - Remembering Callie

*Sigh* I still can't believe my sweet Callie girl is gone. All things considered, it all happened so fast -- about 12 days from noticing she wasn't acting quite right until we lost her -- and it's just been such a shock. I'm not really sure it's even sunk in yet that she's gone for good, since she was away from home several of those days but then came back for a few days. Surely she'll be back home again in a couple of days, right? But no. Well, at least only her cremated remains will be. I ordered the urn yesterday, a rock-looking urn with a nameplate just like Tigger and Felix have. Right now, I keep them inside, but maybe eventually I'll start a memorial garden outside and put them all out there to oversee things (part of why I got a rock-looking thing originally for Felix and then Tigger...just never have done anything garden-y about it since then; I have black thumbs, not green!).

I want to thank everyone who has offered support during this tough time, through all the long days of her illness and not knowing what was wrong and her not eating, offering suggestions to get her to eat, etc., and of course since we lost her. You cats and woofies and gals and guys are the absolute best, and every comment and email and post has been so very greatly appreciated. It's amazing to see how much Callie was loved in the bloggie-sphere.

Of course, I knew what a special and sweet kitty she was. I've had her since she was an itty bitty kitty. Although she was about 2 months old before she, along with Bugsy and Sassy, became a permanent indoor kitten with me and my ex, we had some contact with her before that as well; her feral momma (who she looked just like) birthed her and the others in our garage. We were able to catch the kittens a few times, but momma would always move them again. At that point, we hadn't particularly planned on adopting and keeping them but as winter crept up, we decided to; thus, their December 1 Gotcha Day.

For 6 years, Callie has been a wonderful kitty; never mean, always wanting to spend time in my lap or curled up next to me on the couch. While not aggressive towards any of the other cats, she was always ready to hold her own in a fight if needed, especially against Pixie the Pest. She'd get tired of him picking on her after awhile, though, and would often go hide in the bedroom in the evenings with Sassy (who hides for the same reason). Mostly I think they were just hoping to get to stay in the room overnight, which I rarely allow (too many cats in the house means no sleep for The Mommy if I let them in the bedroom at night!). But, she did get to sleep in with me on her last night in the house and a couple of other nights last week too, so I feel good about letting her do that.

She loved boxes, I've left this one box on the floor with a layer of bubble wrap in it that she adored sleeping in. She also just couldn't get enough of Peggy's hairy blankies, she was on those all the time. She would go outside when we had our outside evenings (a carefully snoopervised hour or so when it's not too hot and not too cold and not raining and so on), but it would usually take her a bit before she'd be brave enough to go, and she'd jump at every noise in the neighborhood -- but then she'd get really brave and get nearly to the street or across the driveway exploring!I had to keep a close eye on her. She was my picky picky eater; she didn't much like canned stinky goodness and rarely would eat it when offered as a special treat. And when I changed their dry food over the summer from 'regular' food found in basic stores to more healthy dry food, I had to go through several kinds to find some she would eat along with everyone else.

She had such beautiful colors, and when caught just right in the sun, she could be truly breathtaking. I'd never had a tortoiseshell or calico kitty before -- thus her rather unimaginative name "Callie" because we thought her coloring was what a calico was! Funny comment, when I took her to Dr. Surgeon Vet on Friday morning, when he walked in the door, he said, "Callie, huh? I take it she's a calico?" And I had to laugh and tell him the story about how stupid I was, not knowing which coloring was a tortie and which was a calico.

I have quite a few photos of her that were in the 'images to use' folder that just hadn't been gotten to yet, and more from the last couple of weeks as well. Don't worry, I won't post them all at once or even individually; I put together several collages. But just so you know that there will be some more memories of Callie coming up in the next few weeks, so don't be confused.

For now, I'll leave you with this one collage of photos from her last few days. At the second upper left, she's in her box of bubble wrap that she loved so much. All the ones on the right side are from her last night at home. And the big photo in the lower right is the very last photo taken of her. (You may want to biggify to see them better.)

Goodbye, my sweet Callie Boo, you will be greatly missed.



PS - We still may not get around to visit much, or post much, this week between this, The Mommy's work, and the holidays. In case we don't see you before then, please have a safe and very happy holiday, and a very Meowy Chrismouse from our house to yours!!