Family Friday

Hi every-buddy! I hope you all had a great week with your Beans home a lot to give you turkey and Temptations. We had a good Christmas week here at Granny and Poppa's. I've had a lot of great naps and Sophie came out from her hidey place on Sunday. She and Sassy play Thundering Herd of Elephants every night. They're really good at it.

The mini-Beans came over a couple of times this week, too, and I let them scrunch my nice soft furs:

Sorry I haven't been blogging this week. All of this visiting with family is exhausting. I'm gonna catch up with you all today and tomorrow!

Easy Like Sunday Morning

Happy Christmas Eve-Eve! Coco and I are very comfy here at Granny and Poppa's, and we snooze on Momma's bed downstairs:

On Friday Aunt Betty Jo and Great Aunt Carolyn drove up to celebrate Granny's birthday, and Auntie Jane and the mini-Beans came over, and we had a nice party and everyone commented on how big and impressive I am.

Sassy is still growling at me. She is very spoiled. She's fascinated by Coco, though. Coco hopes that they can play chase soon. I just want to be able to fuel up at the kibble bowl without having some little pip-squeak having a hissy fit. I told her that Santa is watching, but she just glared.

The Riddle Explained

Oh man, every-buddy, thanks for your concern and support. Well, the day I had been dreading came yesterday. Momma was getting all sorts of bags ready all day on Wednesday, and then yesterday morning, I thought I'd just hang out with the bed sheets, hopin' she's just pass me by. But no--she got me and stuffed the little pink pill down my throat, and then I spent the next 11 hours in the prison box in the car.

Things were fuzzy and I heard the voices from the cat-fairies, and sometimes I think Coco would schnuffle at the cage front of the prison box, and Momma would say "wave to the Meezers, Jimmy Joe!" or "wave to Parker and her family, Jimmy Joe!", but I didn't know where we were. Momma said I was a "space cowboy," and suggested I use this picture to show you all:

Maggie and Zoey and Miss Ann at Zoolatry made this for me on the astronaut day, which I missed, but I guess it works for this adventure, too.

Momma giggled and sang "ground control to Ji--mmy Joe!" in the car, but I don't think there's anything funny about it.

Well, apparently we went over the river and through the woods, and now we're at Granny and Poppa's. Luckily, everything at Granny and Poppa's is good. Sophie is playing hidey-cat again (I thought she'd remember me and Coco, but she is sulking), and I met Sassy the kitten, but she's a brat and she hissed at me and fluffed her tail and glared at me for eating from the kibble bowl. I sat there patiently and explained to her that I am a big mancat and that she is a little kitten brat and she needs to learn how to share, and I tried to touch her nose, but she just made a spoiled squeek and went under the table. Oh man, kittens.

Wordless Wednesday

Weekend Report

We got a snowstorm this weekend:

Momma said, "No, thank you" when I offered her my nip, but we watched movies and ate popcorn!

Popcorn and movies is a good way to spend a snow day.

Fun Friday

What a great week! We played lots, and Momma took the rest of her Thanksgiving turkey out of the freezer so Coco and I got pieces of turkey after dinner. Momma said lots of bad words again yesterday, though, because it snowed all day. I told her, "don't worry, be happy, Momma!" and I even offered her some of my fresh catnip. Look at my pretty catnip plant:


See how happy I am when I get some fresh 'nip? I think Momma should try it. I bet her butt wouldn't be so big, either, if she used catnip instead of M&M's and wine.

Ginger Cat Strategies

It has been a good couple of days here, with lots of playing, and Momma's been home all day for the past three days. So why haven't I been blogging? Because Momma is super lazy and hasn't been helping me out. She sits on the couch and reads and writes notes and watches movies and brings out the evil carpet-eating machine but she won't type up my bloggie posts!!!

So look what I figured out:If you sit on the computer, the Beans can't do their shopping or read their e-mails until they help you blog first! This is a very good strategy. I encourage you all to try it out.

Saturday Night Games

Hi every-buddy! Parker's party yesterday sure was fun. Momma was jealous that I got to go to a party and she was staying home on Saturday night, so I came back and played with her last night. The mini-Bean Katie picked out this Barbie tree for us last year:

Not only is it a beautiful shiny pink color, but it also has shiny cat toys on it!

So we had fun last night: I would get up on the bookcase and bat at the balls, and Momma would say "Jimmy No!", and then I'd hit them off and under the bookcase and she'd get up and fetch them. I can even knock the whole tree off and then she gets to put it back up and put the balls back on it, and then we can start all over again! Coco wanted to play, too, but she has little stubby wiener dog legs and can't get the shiny balls out from under the bookcase.

Momma's lucky she has me to make sure she gets some exercise, because she was just sitting on the couch, drinking wine and eating peanut M & M's and watching T.V. shows on the computer. Christmas decorations are a good way to play and get some exercise!

Box of Life meme

A while back, my buddy Mickey tagged me for Miss Peach's beautiful Box of Life meme. We are finally getting around to putting this together.

A SIMPLE BUT VERY IMPORTANT MEME: List your treasures and tag other kitties and their humans also, as many as you like. Let this reflection spread through out the world. We need to count our contentments as Blessings!
~~~What do you look back over and treasure enough to place inside your BOX OF LIFE?~~~


Here are some things I treasure enough to place in my Box of Life:

1) My momma and my sister Coco, and Granny and Poppa and all of my Bean and kitty friends.

2) All of my blog buddies! I have such fun reading about all of your adventures and visiting you, and I love it when you visit my bloggie.

3) My tastee t/d crunchies. I wish Momma would give me more.

4) The grass outside and my catnip plant! Greens are good for you, kids.

5) My mousies: there's zebra mouse, stripey mouse, fancy mouse, red mouse, and knitty mouse.

6) Snuggly mornings in bed with Momma, and snuggly evenings on the couch afghan.

7) Summer days running across the yard, prowling in the tall grass, and finding voles!

8) Fall days getting the wind-crazies and running in the crunchy leaves.

9) Cold winter days making warm bread and pies with Momma.

10) Spring days stalking birdies who sit outside my window.

I think my box is full of great things. Be sure to put together your Box of Life if you haven't already!

Mancat Monday: snow

Momma said a bunch of bad words when she got up yesterday morning. Something about living in the (bad word, bad word) Arctic. We got snow this weekend. Then there was icy rain last night, so some of the snow is gone now, but there is going to be more snow coming down today. I don't like the cold either, but I'm a polite sort of guy, so I don't say the bad words like my momma.

When it's snowy outside, Coco has to wear her sweater so she doesn't get snow on her tummy. She likes the snow, though, and she sticks her whole head into the snow piles. Dogs are kinda clueless that way.

An important job for a mancat when you live in the (bad word) Arctic is curling up on your momma and keeping her feet warm. Momma says she doesn't know how she'd get through the (bad word) winter without my gravy, as Sunny's Momma would say!

Catching Up

Hi every-buddy! Sorry I haven't been posting and leaving very many messages this week. Momma kept leaving and I couldn't turn on the computer. This was the last week of classes! Maggy and Zoey and Miss Ann sent this to me a little while ago, and even though it's not really graduation, I think I deserve it because I was so helpful in getting Momma through the semester:

This week Momma had to go to classes, meetings, student presentations, shows, and a root canal. But now I can catch up with my blogging, although I still have to help Momma out with all of the papers she has to read and grade. Oh, and her last dissertation chapter, too. This is me in snoopervision-position:

Grade, Momma, grade!

Tabby Tuesday

Thanks for all of the Happy Thanksgiving wishes, every-buddy! Thanksgiving was grate. While Momma was in the kitchen making the second pie (that one was apple, not nearly as good as pumpkin) I lay out on the table in the main room and greeted everybody as they came in. There was Miss Diana and Mr. Andrei and Miss Lindsay and Miss Janet and Miss Lisa. Everybody was thrilled to see me and gave me tummy rubs. Whenever someone stood up (to get some wine or go to the bathroom or whatever), I would jump right in their chair, so I could get my dinner, but Momma forgot to get a plate out for me so I didn't get served. This was very disappointing, because I sat in the chair very politely. Then Miss Janet had to leave, though, so I hopped right up into her chair and put my two front paws on the table and very nicely licked up the pie-crust crumbs off of her plate. That was pumpkin pie, which, as you know, is very good. I know it's rude to put your paws on the table while eating, but Momma also forgot to get a seat pillow out for me (she's not a very good hostess, I guess), so I had to use some bad manners to get to my plate. I'm sure you all understand. Coco and I helped Momma cut up the turkey and we cleaned up the plates and board and tonight we're gonna make soup! I am very helpful in the kitchen.

Momma has not been very supportive lately and I haven't been able to get my bloggie posts up regularly. Sorry every-buddy. This is the last week of classes, and she says she is super busy but things will get better next week. I sat on the computer when she got home from teaching today and told her she couldn't work until she helped me blog, though, hahaha!

Also, the camera battery went "beepie beepie beepie" and now it's dead so I can't upload pictures today. So I thought I would share with you the latest pictures that Granny sent of my cousins Sophie and little Sassy. Sassy has great tabby stripes, doesn't she?

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving, every-buddy! I hope you have a big bird roasting in the oven today!

Momma and the Ostriches

Momma said she checked my bloggie on her computer at work this morning, and the picture of her feeding the ostriches didn't show up. I don't know why, because you can see it when you look at the bloggie on our home computer, but I thought I should post it again, because it's really cool!!!

Momma's Finally Back!

Hi every-buddy—Momma finally came home and turned the computer back on! Whew!
She got home yesterday after midnight and then got up early yesterday morning and was running in and out all day. I was very upset until she finally came home to eat dinner and we sat on the couch and graded papers. I told her over and over again as soon as she walked in the door how sad and lonely I was while she was gone, so I don’t understand how she could get up and go away again yesterday.
(I had to work JJ)
That still doesn’t explain why you would leave me again, Momma, after having been gone for a squillion days.
(Five)
Whatever. Miss Anne from upstairs came down every day and gave me my crunchies and cleaned the latrine and sat on the couch and I helped her write her papers, but she would leave again after a couple of hours, and I was so sad because not even Coco was here. So thanks to all of you who stopped by to touch my nose while my Momma was gone! It sure did make me feel better knowin’ that all of you would be sure to make Momma feel really guilty when she came back.
This is some of the stuff that she saw when she was in Arizona:

Funny trees with arms! Momma says they are called “cacti.”

A pretty sunset!












And she fed ostriches by hand!


I asked her why she didn’t bring an ostrich back to roast for me for Thanksgiving, but she said she already had the turkey in the freezer…whoopee!!!

Meme and Gingery Wednesday

Seven Things Meme: I was tagged by MoMo for this meme! These are the rules:

* Link to the person who tagged you and post the rules on your blog

* Share 7 random and/or weird facts about yourself

* Tag 7 random people at the end of your post & include links to their blogs

* Let them know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

OK, I don’t think of myself as being particularly random, but here are some things about me that you might not already know:

1) I get my teeths brushed every night. I have yummy poultry-flavor teeths-paste.
2) Momma cuts the claws on my front paws once a month or so. The back paws are off limits, though.
3) I hate the evil carpet-eating machine. It is loud and scary and it goes after my precious furs. I run and hide on the sheet shelf in the closet when Momma drags it out. I figure she can’t change her sheets and vacuum at the same time.
4) I stare at Momma in the morning while she eats her Bean crunchies, because when she’s done she puts coffee cream in there for me. I love having cream after my breakfast crunchies. I don’t understand why Momma wastes good cream in her gross coffee.
5) Coco and I wrestle almost every night. She makes growly noises and lunges at me, but then I WHACK her on the butt, and it’s really funny, hahahaha!
6) I knock on the window screen when I’m ready to come in. I don’t like to be outside for more than a couple of hours at a time, tops, because I get lonely after a while.
7) I like bread. Momma makes breads all the time—muffins, pumpkin bread, corn bread, rolls. I like to lick them. Crackers, too, and English muffins, and…mmm, you get the picture. The best? Bread with butter on it!

OK, I tag Sunny, Olive Oyl, and Rascal, and the Ballicai Chairman Mao, Brainball, and Dorydoo, and Tiger Lily.

So, since it’s Wednesday, I thought I’d show you a good example of my gingery fluffness:

I bet your Beans are sayin’ right now, “Oh, I just want to scrunch that fluffy ginger-and-cream sweet-bun!”, right?

Well, believe it or not, Momma is leaving me for 5 days, so I am going to be seriously massage-deprived. She is going to a place called “Phoenix,” for a so-called “conference.”
I can’t stand it!

Easy Like a Fall Sunday

It was frosty last night, and this morning, there was still frost in the shade where the sunshine couldn't get:

Even though she doesn't like the cold, Momma likes the way the frost looks on the grass and leaves.

We went outside in the morning sunshine. Coco watched the leaves falling:

while I inspected the bushes that are going to sleep for the winter:

Then I ran inside for some brunch and took a good sunbath!

It's gonna be a good Sunday!

Friday Finally: IDYA!

Oh man, every-buddy, I’m sorry I haven’t posted all week. Momma hasn’t helped me at all, all week, and sometimes she didn’t even turn the computer on before she left for work, so I’m gonna have to get caught up with what everyone has been doing this week.

I spent all week tryin’ to get her to dress up for Anastasia’s dare, but every day Momma would say “Oh, JJ, I’m so busy today, we’ll have to do it later.” What do you think she was so busy with? These are her excuses: teaching, individual research project meetings with all of her students, the dentist, physical therapy, a film screening, a German conversation group, and general errands. I gotta tell you, though, I’m not sure I’m buying all of her excuses. I mean, she made banana-nut muffins last night, and she left them on the table for me, so I start licking them, and then she yelled at me and said I can’t have them! What is that? She finds the time to make muffins, and then says they’re not even for me?

Well, remember a ways back when I suggested that Momma become a catnip farmer instead of her so-called real job? Here’s Momma in the outfit I helped her put together:



Farmer Momma Joe!

I hope Anastasia is reading and laughing somewhere.

Easy Like Sunday Morning

Since there's an extra hour in the day today, Coco and I are gonna take an extra long afternoon nap on the bed. Where's Coco?

It's a trick question! She knocked Sock Monkey out of the way and is sleeping under the covers! Hahaha!

Anastasia haunted me on Dia de los Muertos, daring me to her last challenge. I'm working on it...Stay tuned.

Thursday Thirteen: Fall

It is November today, so I thought I would share 13 things I really like about fall:

1) The trees turn ginger, an excellent color.
2) Windy days outside so I get the crazies!
3) Cold, dark rainy days so I can take a nap with Momma.
4) Momma's pumpkin pie. It is pumpkiny, creamy, eggy goodness with crunchie crust...mmm...I love it with Momma leaves it on the table so I can lick it. She always calls me "Jimmy No" when she sees me doing that, though.
5) When Momma changes the clocks so we get to spend an extra hour snoozing in bed.
6) The big Thanksgiving feast. Momma fills the table with so much yummy goodness, and sometimes the Beans who come over sneak me some of it under the table!
7) Pumpkin bread.
8) When the wool blanket comes out.
9) Leaves on the ground, blowing around. They give me the crazies, too.
10) When the stupid mousies try to come inside because it's cold. It's funny to see Coco get all worked up when she thinks she smells one. Every once in a while we find one and give it to Momma as a present.
11) Pumpkins out on the porch. They smell very interesting.
12) Pumpkin pie. It's worth mentioning twice.
13) Looking forward to that turkey...it's better than Christmas!

What do you guys like about fall?

Tuesday Toes

I have big, manly back paws. I am rather proud of them, muddy or not.

Since my back feets are so big, sometimes I can't keep them tucked in when I take a nap:

Momma and Granny think this is funny, when my back feets stick out. So then they go and bug me during my afternoon nap. [*sigh*] You know how it is.

For Miss Peach

We love you, Miss Peach.

My Momma is Crazy

I think I've said before that my momma is really weird, even for a Bean. Well, look at what her idea of a party is:She stuck her whole head in a bucket of water---for an apple!!! Now if that isn't crazy, I don't know what is. She said she got the apple first and won, so it was totally worth it.

That is not my idea of a party. I much prefer sitting on snugglies and eating jellied eels--thanks, Fat Eric!

Friday Family: My Sister

So, a couple of you commented on Coco in the pictures from Tuesday. Coco is my sister. She’s a long-haired dachshund. Having a wiener dog for a sister is almost like having a kitty sister. There was even a wiener dog “LOLCat” recently. Coco liked it a lot:

She’s a pretty cool sister, even though she sometimes growls at me when I get too close to her stinky goodness. We have to take turns napping on the Boppy Pillow, because there’s only room for one at a time, but we both sleep in the big bed with Momma, and there’s room for both of us to nap on the couch, too.

Coco likes to get under the blankets to nap. Momma interrupts her, too:

We play together sometimes and chase around the apartment and wrestle. Sometimes, when we’re outside, I’ll wriggle my butt and leap out at her when she comes around the juniper bush! That’s really funny. She’s brave, too. Last night she chased two Vishus Deer out of our yard! And we go hunting together sometimes. Coco’s really good at killing moles and mice and voles. She is a bloodthirsty killer.

My sister is awesome.

Side note and question: Sometimes Momma comes up to me and scrunches me and says “You’re so cute I can’t stand it!!!” What happens if she really can’t stand it anymore? Will she explode or something? Do any of you guys have this problem? Thanks for your advice.

Tuesday Thanks

I got something in the mail yesterday!!! Gretchen sent me a package with some super mice and lizards and Temptations for winning the "guess the fuzzhead bears" 100th post contest!!! (oh, and a bookmark and stickers, but Momma said she wanted those.)

Coco and I checked them all out.

I practiced Daisy's Lizard-Disciplining techniques.

And then I had crazy fun with the red stripey mouse all afternoon!

Thanks, Gretchen! That package was AWESOME!

Thanks, Mickey!

Mickey the Black Cat honored me with the I Love Your Blog Award! I am so excited. I like so many of your blogs out there in the Cat Blogosphere I can't even single one out. Kitties have a natural talent for blogging, I think.

Thanks, Mickey!

'partment Wars

Some of you asked whether I decorated our 'partment with nice muddy paw prints. Well, Momma tried wiping some of the mud off of my paws, but I don't like people messin' with the feets. So I had to get most of the mud off myself. I didn't leave too many prints, though, because I cleaned up in the kitchen. See what a nice guy I am? Coco gets dirty paws and a dirty belly, too, sometimes, because she's got a low wiener-dog chassis. So Momma always keeps a towel by the door anyway and we got little rugs everywhere and a washable cover on the sofa. So even when we do decorate things with furs and paw prints, they get cleaned up.

Some of you also asked about my momma's Ph.D. She is getting a Ph.D in Theatre Studies, concentrating on history and aesthetic theory. I am not exacting sure what this means, except that not only does she read a lot of philosophy books by dead Germans, she also goes out a lot at night to see plays and movies. As far as I can tell, she's pretty weird by Bean standards, but she's my momma, so I love her.

But she got back at me for stayin' out too late and for gettin' muddy paws. Look--she caught me droolin'!!! I gotta figure out how to work the flashy box so I can get her back...

Tuesday Toes

Sometimes when I go outside I get dirty toes.

I think muddy paws show that I am a manly, outdoorsy kinda guy. Momma says it shows that I'm a slob. Tomato/tomato.

Blessing of the Animals

Momma left me last weekend to go to the Big City, so I didn't get to put this up last Sunday. There are some Blessing of the Animals celebrations today, too, so it is still appropriate.

October 4 was the special day for St. Francis of Assisi. Some churches now celebrate Mr. St. Francis by having Blessing of the Animals ceremonies, which is real nice, I think. We could all use a blessing now and then, don't ya think?

St. Francis was an old hippie who lived in Italy a squillion years ago. His first name wasn't really St. He got called that after he died. He loved all living things and reminded Beans that they should be kind to animals because we should honor all creation with love and peace. He sounds like a nice guy, even though he had funny hair. Here is a picture of a pretty St. Francis window that shows him with his animal friends.

Friday Pictures!

Hey every-buddy! Look what the great, talented folks over at Zoolatry made up for me!

This is my Autumn Country Boy picture. It is very appropriate, because Momma said she's gonna go to the pumpkin patch to get me a pumpkin tomorrow!

And this is really appropriate, too, because I am my momma's study-buddy. She goes to Cornell and teaches there (her official title is "Doctoral Candidate," she said).

They really caught me there, didn't they? It's true--this is me helpin' Momma grade papers:

Thanks, Maggy and Zoey and Miss Ann at Zoolatry!!!