Happy Endings

Hi, Every Buddy!
I know it's been three years since I blogged, but I wanted to let everybuddy know I've been just fine since summer 2009.  Here's what's happened:

Momma ended up moving to West Virginia, but she had to work lots and lots of hours (she said 60-70 hours a week, which doesn't add up to me, because everybuddy knows there are only 168 hours in a week, and you need to be sleeping at least 125. I think her math must be off). So Coco and I stayed at Granny and Poppa's.  My crabby cousin Sassy went off to live with Momma, so it's just me and Coco and my cousins Sophie and Cheetah, who aren't crabby like Sassy.

Momma went back to Upstate New York for a couple of years, but now she lives in Brooklyn with Sassy.  She comes to visit us a few times a year, so we can snuggle and catch up.  I miss her a lot.

But Granny and Poppa take good care of us: they are Old People and so they stay home all day to make sure the pillows are arranged right, we have all of our noms on time, the latrines stay clean, and the windows are open on nice days.  And Granny takes lots of naps, which is ideal.  So everything turned out Okay.

I know it's been 3 years, but Granny isn't good at blogging and it takes me a really long time to type with a paw, so I let it go for far too long.  Sorry, buddies!  I wanted you all to know that me and Coco have a Happy Ending, though.  We'll always be sending Good Purrs and Barks out to all our buddies in the Blog-o-Sphere!

Stay furry, Every Buddy!  xo Jimmy Joe

Yeah, that was more than a month...

Sorry, buddies. That was three and a half months. Here's why:

Momma hasn't been good at writing up my posts. She got her dissertation done, defended it against her Special Attack Committee of Professors, and got her Ph.D a month ago. She was very stressed and sometimes unhappy, so I didn't have the heart to bug her about my bloggie.

And actually, I haven't seen her for a month now. Coco and I have been at Granny and Poppa's in Michigan, with my cousins Sophie, Sassy, and Cheetah, because Momma went to a conference in Spain and is going to move away from our 'partment next month so she thought we should just stay comfy at Gran & Gramps so we don't have to help pack stuff up and put it on a truck. Momma is pretty sure she is going to come here and stay with us at Granny and Poppa's because she doesn't have a job. She is very, very upset about this, which I don't really get, because living at Granny and Poppa's house is grate:

See how comfy I am? They have a nice sunporch and you can snooze out here all day and watch lots of birdies! The food's okay, too. I've assured Momma I'm getting enough to eat.

So while Momma isn't too good these days, I'm doing just fine, buddies! Sorry if I'm not back again for a while this summer, but it is hard to telecommute when Momma's computer is all the way back in Ithaca and I'm here in MI. Have a grate summer, every-buddy!

Just taking a break

Hi Every-buddy--

Thanks for checking in, buddies. We're just taking a break from blogging so Momma can finish her doctoral dissertation. She has to give it to her committee in less than three weeks. She hasn't heard back yet from the university where she interviewed three weeks ago, so she doesn't think she will get that job, either. So Momma is very worried about not only finishing her degree but also getting a job.

So, as you can imagine, Coco and I are very busy keeping Momma from getting too down. I'm sure you understand how time-consuming that is, buddies. Coco and I will give you an update later this month.

Your buddy, Jimmy Joe

Wordy Wednesday

Oh boy, buddies, I got another grate award! This is exciting. This is the LOVE-YA! award, which my grate buddies the Orange Tabbies, Turtle and my nose-twin Pippin (and their tortie sister Ava Grace) gave me.

This is the description of the LOVE-YA! Award: "These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers. Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award."

I'm gonna pass this on to my grate buddies:
1) Wally, Ernie and Zoey over at Island Cats
2) Sunny, Olive Oyl and Rascal of Mommy's Little Fat Boy
3) Princess Isis the Doggie
4) and Luna over at CatSynth

In other news, guess what I saw went I went out with Coco this morning?


LOOK!!!




GRASS!!!!!
Coco and I found lots of fascinating smells in the long-hidden grass, so we had to spend quite a while doing a thorough investigation.

Finally, Momma is going away tomorrow for two days for a Very Important Interview. I thought I'd ask for some of the grate Cat Blogosphere Magic to help her, so could you chip in with some good luck purrs and furs for her?

Thanks, buddies!

TGIF

First of all, super thanks to my new li'l buddy Tuck, who gave me a grate award this week!This is the Proximity Award:
"This blog invests and believes the PROXIMITY - nearness in space, time and relationships! These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in prizes or self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers! Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award."

Wow, what a wonderful award to get. I'm gonna pass this on to my grate buddies:

* Sweet Praline

*Tybalt

* Camie's Kitties, Tavi, Cody and Miss Jade

* Jeter Harris

* Whicky Wuudler, Angel, Oliver and Gerry at Everycat
* Eric and Flynn

* Earl Grey, Tazo, and Titus of the Furry Kids

*Laila and Minchie at Cat-a-holic

This award means a special lot to me since I haven't been able to be as good a visitor as I'd like to be, buddies. As you know, my momma is under a lot of Bean-stress because she is finishing a dissertation and teaching a new college course and trying to get a grown-up job at another college. So she usually only lets me use the computer a couple times a week to visit you all. Sometimes I don't have time to leave comments for everybuddy, but I love catching up with your news!

So Momma said she's just never going to be not-stressed-out this semester, but Coco and I at least had a better week this week. We had lots of naps, and Coco got to take some good walks and I got to visit some of the neighbors, which I like to do because I'm a friendly guy. I didn't get a chance to enter my sister Coco into the Best Fur Sibling contest, but I decided to give her a shout-out today, because she is a grate sister, even though she is a doggie and not a kitty.*

*Coco thinks a correction is needed: she says she is not "a doggie," she is a Wiener Dog, which is something special unto itself.

Coco is a grate sister because she is supportive when we have to take the Long Ride in the car to Granny and Poppa's and Momma pushes drugs on me. We go out exploring the yard together (except in winter when it is Tundra out there), and sometimes in the summer we go on hunting trips. We also enjoy sharing sunbeams together in the morning:

These are some of the reasons why my sister Coco is a grate fur sibling.

TGIF

Oh man, buddies, what a week!

So it started out with me and Coco doin' our usual duties, showing Momma how to relax and be happy. I showed her how to enjoy a sunbeam on Monday:

See, I had the wonderful realization that you can use your scratcher as a pillow, too!

You can see how relaxed I am on my scratcher-pillow.

But the week got worse. On Tuesday, Momma blind-sided me by pulling out the PTU and taking me to the v-e-t!!!

It was terrible, buddies. First of all, as those of you who had been reading my bloggie for a while know, I get car-sick. So as soon as we get to the horrible office, I got the barfs real bad. It was very embarrassing. Well, the assistant and the doctor lady both kept petting me and talking about how handsome I am and what a grate guy I am, so I'm thinking, "hey, maybe it won't be that bad this time. Maybe they just wanted to visit with me."

But no! After saying over and over how good-lookin' I am, they promptly took me back to their lair and poked me with needles and STOLE BLOODS FROM MY NECK!!!

Look at this evidence. I think maybe they are vampires. It was a terrible experience, but I think I got through it pretty bravely.

Coco didn't have a grate time either this week. We got lots of snow on Wednesday so she couldn't take a walk, and instead Momma made her play Beauty Parlor, which Coco hates. She asked me please not to put a picture of her all wet and sad on my bloggie, and I'm a good brother so I said okay.

We are going to spend our weekend recovering from our stressful weeks with lots of naps and treats. I advise you all to do the same, buddies.

Easy Like Sunday Morning

Now that we have gotten settled back into our own 'partment and Momma is putting our stuff away, I reminded her that she needs to update my scrapbook with all of the awesome holly-day cards my buddies sent me!

Momma has books for her pictures:

But they are just regular Bean pictures, and I don't think they are very interesting.

So I have my own scrapbook!

I keep all of the grate cards and pictures that you send me in my scrapbook. Thanks, every-buddy!

Wordy Wednesday (I'm finally back)

Hey all my buddies!!! I'm back!

Whew. We are all finally back in our own 'partment, me and Momma and Coco, after a month at Granny and Poppa's house in Holland, Michigan. Momma kept leaving us there, though. First she went to San Francisco, where she had a business conference and Very Important Interviews. Then she went to Germany, where she traveled with Auntie Julie* and had a Very Important Meeting with her advisor.

(*Auntie Julie isn't really an auntie. We just call her auntie because she's like one).

Coco and I were equally busy. First of all, there was holly-day decorating to snoopervise:

Then there was all of the snoopervising in Granny and Poppa's house while Momma was off seeing things like this castle in Heidelberg, Germany:

And this weird medieval hospital in Nuremberg, Germany:

Personally, I think it was a stupid thing for Momma to do, abandoning us to go to Germany, even if she did need to have this meeting. For one thing, that meant that Coco and I didn't have anyone to snuggle with at night, because my bratty girl-cat cousins sleep with Granny and Poppa. Plus, it was very cold, and only Very Stupid Beans take vacations in cold Germany in January. Beans like Momma:

We had to drive through snow to get home on Sunday, and Momma had to start teaching germy freshmen again yesterday. So even though she was Not Working for a month, she is already stressed. But she promised to try to get my bloggie posts up at least once a week now, and hopefully sometimes twice a week. I'm gonna be busy catching up with you all over the next few days!

That is, between much-needed naps:

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!