Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas, every-buddy!

And Happy Hanukkah and a belated Happy Solstice to every-buddy, too!

Momma and Coco and I are all at Granny and Poppa's now. We drove here on Saturday, and since then it has just snowed, snowed, and snowed. I am staying inside and just looking at the snow. My cousins Sophie, Sassy, and the new baby-cousin Cheetah are here, too. Sophie and I have a good time playing, but Sassy and Cheetah are kind of obnoxious little girls. I just ignore them.

I'm sorry I'm not doing a grate job of visiting everybuddy. Momma is still under a lot of stress. She leaves tomorrow and goes to San Francisco for Very Important Job Interviews, she told me. Maybe when she comes back I can convince her to help me catch up with you all!

In the meantime, enjoy a grate holly-day with your families!
Your buddy, Jimmy Joe

Finally Friday

Oh man, buddies, sorry I've been gone for so long. Momma sent off four revised dissertation chapters to her committee yesterday, turned in students' grades, and got through her mock-job interviews this week, so I told her that she should take a break now to help me catch up with all of you.

This is what Ithaca looks like in the winter:

This was the snow we got last week. It melted at the beginning of this week, and when we got just a little bit of snow, and then that turned into a thin layer of ice over the yard. So yesterday I could just walk on top of it. But guess what's happening today? Another snow storm. Momma says we'll get about a foot today. I'm not too fond of snow. It makes your feets cold and your furs wet.

But sometimes a mancat's just gotta hold his breath and dive in so he can take care of his snoopervision duties.

Momma says I am a very tough guy. Here I am investigating the bush in the front yard. I think we have interlopers.

Yep, yep, I definitely suspect vishus deer. Stay vigilent, buddies.

I'm gonna try to catch up with all of you this evening, buddies! We've been very excited to get all of your beautiful holly-day cards. Momma tapes them up in the kitchen so we all can enjoy them!

Apologies, buddies

Hi buddies--

Sorry I've been gone for the past couple of weeks. Momma is hogging the computer, and when she's not on the computer, she's stressing out and won't help me blog.

I will be back before Christmas, buddies, I promise. But I gotta keep things together here--Coco and I have our work cut out for us!

I'll catch up with you soon, buddies!

Your buddy, Jimmy Joe

Tuesday Tattle

Oh boy, buddies, do I have a grate tattle today!

See, one of Coco's bad habits* is shredding tissues and napkins. Last week, look what Momma found when she got home:

She had put a whole new packet of tissues in her backpack, and the whole thing had been pulled out and shredded, plastic and all!

Coco, of course, denies everything. She says there is an evil Wiener-Demon who comes out of a closet and shreds the napkins on the coffee table and the tissues from the purses when Momma is not around. Momma doesn't believe this, though, because she's also found shredded napkins and tissues in her car when Coco has gone for a ride. And she doesn't know how the Wiener-Demon would get into the car. So we're pretty sure all of the evidence points to Coco.

*Coco adamantly claims that she has no bad habits.

Caturday: Weekend Update

So here's how our week has been, buddies:

Every day the snow starts to go away, and then every night we get more snow. It was snowing this morning, too. Momma put out food for the birdies, which they like.

So the other morning, when Coco went outside for her morning pee, and Momma went to get the paper, I figured: "Well, if we're gonna keep having snow, maybe I should just deal with it."

So I started to check it out, careful not to get my toes too cold.

Maybe I can still find some grass under the snow? Or some leaves to play with?

Ehhhh, it's not really worth it. I think I'll stick to my inside-mousies and inside-tree.

So that was my week.

The end, as JH would say.

Tuesday: worried about my toes

Oh, maaaaan...
Look at my snowy yard!!!

I think fall is really over, Jack'o'lantern.

Coco doesn't mind. She just wears a sweater.

See, the problem with snow is:

It makes your toes cold.

So I think I'm just gonna watch.

And we are sending all of our purrs and furs to brave little Moki, too. Hang in there, buddy!

Saturday is Caturday

Momma is so worried about getting everything done, and she said that she crosses something off of her "to-do" list and then has to add two more things.

I am completely sympathetic because it seems like my to-do list is never-ending, too. There is always:

--napping

--investigating the grounds

--eating some crunchies to keep my energy up

--finding sunshine

--napping

--keeping an eye on the birdies and squirrels outside

--napping

--keeping Momma's feets warm and helping her get her reading done

--giving myself a good bath

--napping

I cross something off the "to-do" list and then I have to jump right into something else. But it is important to share and enjoy the quiet moments together. It is rainy today, but we had nice warm sunshine earlier this week, and Coco and I showed Momma how to make the most of a nice sunny day.

I told Momma she needs to plan a break tonight so we can catch up with all of your blogs, buddies.

Honoring all of our veterans

Momma suggested that I tell every-buddy about the United States War Dog Association today, since doggies, horses, and many other animals have also nobly served our country. Here is an excerpt from an article by a man named Steve Dale, which was in our USA Weekend section a couple of months ago:

"Once while U.S. Marine Ron Aiello was serving in Vietnam, he was alerted by his partner to stop and heel--immediately! Aiello heeded the warning. Moments later, a sniper opened fire, just missing Aiello.

His partner, who clearly saved Aiello's life, was a German shepherd named Stormy. In the time they were together, Aiello says, Stormy saved his life 'a few times.' Today, Aiello is president of the non-profit United States War Dogs Association.

Aiello estimates that military dogs saved about 10,000 lives in Vietnam. 'They have already saved thousands in Iraq and Afghanistan,' he adds. Dogs on duty help detect land mines and explosives, conduct search and rescue operations, and serve as guard dogs."

Not only doggies, but also many horses, dolphins, and even birds have helped our soldiers through the years. So we should celebrate them as veterans as well today.

Wordless Wednesday

Mancat Monday: Update

Well, buddies, as you know, my momma is super busy and stressed out this fall. So I've been working overtime, too, keeping her feets warm and making sure she gets her daily allowance of cuteness. I brought her a mouse to play with a few weeks ago, too, since she was staying home on Saturday night and I felt sorry for her. I didn't even complain when she abandoned me last weekend to go to the Big City. So I've been pretty busy with all of my mancat duties.

Here is the update of what's been going on over the Halloween weekend:
Last week, Diamond Emerald-Eyes made a fantastic costume for me for her Masquerade Ball! Check it out!

Then the day after Halloween, Momma and Miss Megan went to the Howl-o-ween Parade at the Dog Park to see the doggies' costumes. This dog was a clown.

This doggie was a bumble-bee. I kinda think she should have been a bat instead, though.

And this was our favorite, of course! A Wiener-Skunk!

We had our Jack-o-lantern outside, all lit up and ready to give people a good Halloween scare.

Some of our neighbors had good Jack-o-lanterns, too! The 'partment building looked pretty good on Halloween.

Wordy Wednesday

What the???

There's snow on my leaves!

Not cool. Momma has a bad-word to describe snow in October.

I'm gonna go back inside and work on the gravy. It's gonna be a long winter.

Sorry I've been gone the past two weeks buddies. Momma has been extra busy and she won't give me enough time on the computer to post and visit all of you. I'm gonna try to catch up in the next few days!

Thursday Thirteen

Oh boy, everybuddy, my grate buddies Tiki and Tavi and Cody and Miss Jade and Camie over at Camie's Kitties gave me a beautiful award!
Thanks, buddies! Here are the award instructions:
~ Put the logo on your blog.
~ Add a link to the person who awarded you.
~ Nominate 10 other blogs.
~ Add links to those blogs on yours.
~ Leave a message for your nominees on their blogs.
Here are my award nominees:
1) Ana la Gattorista!
2) All of my buddies over at Cats ~ Goats ~ Quotes
3) Dragonheart and Merlin
4) Eric and Flynn, whose Beans have not come back yet from abandoning them
5) Fin
6) Jasper, Huggy Bear, Josie, and Maggie McKitten-Cat
7) Sunny, Olive Oyl, and Rascal
8) MoMo
9) the St. Louis Meezers
10) the Furry Kids, Tazo, EG and Titus!

Oh boy, what a pretty award. OK, so now for the Thursday Thirteen part:
Here are more pictures that our grate friend Miss Megan took.
The theme of this T13 is: All About Our Fall.

Momma starts cooking lots of yummy warm meals inside as it gets cooler. Last weekend she made Shepherd's Pie. It smelled deee-lishus. But do you think I got any?
This is me staring at the Shepherd's Pie.

All of the crazy squirrels running around in the fall drive Coco crazy. She just sits and sits and sits at the bottom of the tree, waiting for one to fall out.

Here is an example of a cheeky red squirrel. He just sat there in the tree, screeching really obnoxious things at Coco. Even Momma said she hoped he fell out of the tree 'cause it would teach him a lesson about being rude.

One of the things I really like about fall is all of the leaves falling down. They are fun to run through and chase!

Coco likes taking fall drives.

Coco likes to go for drives to smell the fall air. Momma and Miss Megan took a drive on Sunday to see the pretty fall colors. This is what they saw.

I get sick in the car, so I stayed home and held down the fort.

They all went to a State Park. This is what it look like when they climbed up the hill to the top of the gorge.

This is Coco on the wall overlooking the gorge!!! My sister is a Dare-Devil.

This is what it looked like above the gorge. It is a glen.

On the way home, they stopped to get pumpkins!

Here are our family pumpkins.

When they got home, I heard all about the drive and their grate adventure in the park.

Tummy and Toes

Our grate friend Miss Megan came over on Sunday and she took super grate pictures of me. I think she should be a professional kitty-and-doggie photographer!

Here are some grate tummy and toes shots for Tuesday!

Here's Momma giving me a good armpit massage and scrunching my tummy.

Check out my awesome left hook!

I like having visitors.

Saturday is Caturday

It is a crisp, bright, colorful fall morning.

I'm ready to start the day!