Spring is here!

Just some pictures today of the kitties out and about on the balcony!

"Mom! We want to come out!!"

"I know I'm going to find something in the dirt, I just have to keep digging!"

"Sigggghh, stupid brother."
"What a day, time to rub all my shedding fur on mom's pillow"

"Can't wait to explore tomorrow!"

All Grown Up!

It's unbelievable how fast time flies by. Just under a year ago we picked Hendrix up at the pet store and brought him home. He was so small that when he would lie beside Steph's feet it looked like he was next to a giant!

Now he's taller, bigger, faster and stronger than Joplin. Unfortunately, he also has entered what I'm going to call his early teens because all he wants to do is box with Joplin. And all Joplin wants to do is lick him! She's in love. It's almost like Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy...that or I really need to get out of the house hahaha

Spring is almost here and I've cleaned off the balcony and brought the patio furniture back out. It's still a bit chilly during the day but I brought Joplin out for a bit to enjoy nature. Hendrix came outside for the first time EVER and was terrified, poor little guy. It look about 30min but eventually he was sniffing at the dirt and dead plants. Now we're supposed to get a week of rain, but that ok. As long as the snow is OVER!!

Wordless Wednesday

Back at it!

Well it's been a while, but I'm back to the blog! Between exams, Christmas, New Years and the beginning of my last semester of university I've been neglecting the blog. On top of all this I caught one heck of a cold which lasted just over 2 weeks (the worst two weeks EVER).

As for whats new here, honestly its nothing much. I work and go to school and play with the cats and cook. I have been reading blogs but I have alot of catching up to do. I've been having fun watching the Olympics and watching Canada's first goal on home soil! And then that awful showing tonight in hockey ( I'm sure all my American friends are happy though!).

I also have been skating on the Rideau canal here in Ottawa, just about the coolest thing about this city. I love skating late at night when all the tourists have packed it in and only us die-hards are out. Its so tranquil and beautiful. There's nothing I love more than hearing my skates cutting into ice in the bitter cold.

Pic from: http://www.pictureitdowntown.ca/en/gallery/view/62


I also just got back from a great mini-trip to Montreal with Stephane. I love that city, if you haven't been there already I encourage you to go. Amazing atmosphere, amazing food, amazing people and 100% bilingual. You just have to go!

I have another big week of school ahead of me but I will catch up as soon as possible!

Here's some pictures just for fun!

An Award!

Joplin, Hendrix and I are pleased to accept out 2nd award! Thank you so much to our amazing blog friend One's Cat Nip for giving us such an honor. As for the procedure...

1. Each Superior Scribbler (SS) must pass the Award on to 5 deserving blogger friends
See below
2. Each SS must link the author and name of the blog from whom he/she received the award.
Done

3. Each SS must display the award on his/her blog and link to the post which explains the award.
Done

4. Each SS is asked to visit the post which explains the award and add his/her name to the Mr. Linky List.
Done

5. Each SS must post these rules on his/her blog.
Done

As for who to award this with:

1. Poppy Q, I can't get enough of that cute face and love reading her notes about life in New Zealand

2. Ozark Mountain Cats, another blog I love reading!

These are the only 2 people I can see who haven;t received this yet, so if you have not let me know and I'll be happy to award you!

Thanks again to One's Cat Nip, it's always nice to know that someone loves what you write!

There are two Tobys!

I was sitting having my breakfast this morning and put the peanuts out for Toby, as usual, and all of a sudden his twin comes to join him in the feast! I wasn't able to get a picture because just when I was going to grab the camera a GIANT raven came and perched on the balcony railing. Now I know that you're think it must have been a crow, but I can guarantee you is was a raven!

I have decided to name the second squirrel Holly (sticking with the Office theme) , and the raven Edgar (because I spent the rest of the day with the phrase "never more" stuck in my head). I guess I'm going to have to get more peanuts and maybe some bird food too!

Hope you had a good weekend!!

Toby the Squirrel!

I'm usually able to leave my garbage out on the balcony in the winter but the other day I noticed that the bags had been chewed! I decided to have a mini steak-out and did all my blogging on Friday morning in front of the balcony door. Around noon a little squirrel came hopping along and was shivering in the snow sniffing around for food. Well this broke my heart and I immediately went out to buy a big bag of peanuts. Now he comes every morning while I have my coffee and we have breakfast together.

I caught him on camera yesterday morning. Sorry about the quality, I'm shooting through the screen.

I was thinking maybe to leave a little box and blankets out on the balcony for him because I think he's just dug a trench for himself in the snow on the balcony. I don't know if he'll last the winter living in the snow.

I've decided to same him Toby. Just seems like a Toby hahaha.

Here's a video as well, I got a little carried away so its just a tad long :D

Wordless Wednesday

Review: Catit Freash and Clear Small Drinking Fountain

So for Christmas my Mom and my Dad bought me this drinking fountain for the cats. I actually had read only so-so reviews about this particular one so I asked for a different one but I'm very happy with the way it turned out!

Setup
Very easy, a few quick snaps and its done.

Use
Very easy as well! Simply fill it up (by pouring directly into the bowl) until the red indicator reaches the top and plug it in

Pros

1. A great way to make sure your cat's water is always clean and fresh
2. Keeps bacteria out
3. Very quiet (I had previously read that it was supposed to be loud but I can barely hear it right now sitting beside it)
   
4. No more re-filling the water bowl every morning
5. Cat's love the running water

Cons

1. Mine seems to only pour out of one side, not all the way around. There is a good chance that this is because my apartment leans and not due to the device itself
2. Filters do need to be changed couple months or so

Over all I give this 4 out of 5 stars!

Christmas, New Years and Catching up!

Hello all my friends!!! I've missed blogging SO much, but December was crazy with Christmas shopping and papers and then visiting my parents in their new home and a whole bunch of visitors and then New Years. Now things are starting to calm down but I'll start at the beginning...

Late December once all my exams and my last paper was handed in it wasn't only me who was exhausted but the kitties too! Many naps were had by all for quite a few days until all our sleep was caught up.

Then I decided to do some kitty photo shoots to test out the new camera, here are a few of the best:



Since Steph and I both still spend Christmas with our families we decided to have an early "faux" Christmas together on the 21st. We were woken up bright and early by the cats who were excited to eat out of their new bowls that we got for them. Then they opened their stockings which were FILLED with treats and jingly balls which filled up the hallway.




Then they got to open their present which is a cube with windows on all sides and hanging mice on the inside, the cats went crazy for it! Hendrix most of all, he spent all day attacking the box.

On the 23rd I went to my parent's new place just outside of downtown Toronto in the Greek area. What a fantastic place! It's been a blast discovering the new area with my Mom and Dad, and it's so close to downtown all we had to do is hop on the subway. The only unfortunate thing is that Joplin and Hendrix had to stay at home but they had their favorite kitty-sitter, MC, taking care of them!

My sister and her boyfriend arrived along with their adorable dog Lucy, she's not even a year old but she's HUGE and just such a loving, caring dog. She decided that she was going to sit and guard the turkey as it was cooking.

Christmas morning was a lot of fun, especially because for the first time my Papa spent it with us. Lots of unwrapping and cleaning later we started up the turkey dinner which was delicious and then there was the inevitable "turkey coma." The next few days were filled with shopping and watching lots of hockey.

On the 30th Steph and I made our annual trek down to Queen St. W. to shop around and to have Korean BBQ...for those of you who have never had this it is AMAZING! The idea is that they give you thinly sliced seasoned raw beef, chicken, pork, and sometimes fish and other meat like ox tongue and squid (I pass on these two) and you have a small grill in front of you to cook the meat yourself. I know this sounds kind of silly since usually you go to a restaurant so you don't have to cook but it's really a blast, and cheap! Not to mention the spiced veggies and legumes are delicious!
Finally we come to New Years which was an absolute blast! The whole family and all the boyfriend's and girlfriends were there. The bar was busy but not crowded and they had great food. To be honest that's all I can remember hahaha. I had a bad headache the next morning but it was all worth it!

On New Years day we had an early celebration of my brother's 20th (yikes!) birthday at the Keg, which was delicious.

Then on the 2nd we drove to Montreal to spend a day with my grandparents which was nice but I was anxious to get home. It was so nice to walk through the door yesterday and just relax with the kitties. So today I have my last day of relaxation before the term starts, and I plan on spending it drinking coffee and reading blogs :D

I've missed you all!!

HELP!!

Ho everyone I have a bunch of new posts but it won't let me publish any of them! It keeps saying that I have a META tag that I can't use :S Does anyone know how to fix this???? thanks!!!

Dwight is here!

Just in time for Christmas we have received our adopted VSquillion, Dwight!

So here's a little bit about him:

His hobbies are: beet growing, Battlestar Galactica, paper sales, and bobble heads.

We very happy to welcome him to our blog :D

Back at it post #2- Christmas Time!

It's Christmas time! My favorite time of the year, and not its not for the presents (however I do love getting people presents) but rather for the good cheer that everyone seems to have and all the time I get to spend with my family, put up a tree and decorate the house in the tackiest of fashions!

The decorations came first and they were nice but I had to take a break in all my studying so that Steph and I could go get a tree!

I'm not sure it I ever said this before but Steph and I have no car so we carried that tree all the way home from the grocery store...and by us I mean mostly him hehe since I'm and foot and a half shorter than he is it was very awkward for us both to carry, so I simple watched over.

So we got it back to the house and he put it in our "got it off the street in august" tree holder, then had to go off to band practice. Tree decorating is my thing so I started with the lights and as I got to the top the tree started to tilt. I was very confused and came down off the chair just in time to catch it before it smashed into the wall. At this point what I should have done is left it leaning on the wall until Steph came home and could help me fix it, but being the stubborn person I am and not having all that much time to decorate I decided that I could fix it on my own.

Now I'm not sure if any of you have tried this but trying to center and balance a tree at the base of it is quite a task! After about 30 minutes of this I was EXHAUSTED and when that tree started to tip yet again and all I had to hold onto was the base, well it was coming down whether I liked it or not! And it did come down, right on top of me....now this did not hurt at all! It just pinned me in between the sofa, the floor and the sofa chair. My arms were so tired from trying to hold the tree up that I couldn't even lift the tree off me for 45min...yes for 45min I was stuck under the tree, softly crying, with my cats purring beside me, and the Christmas music playing in the background lol.

Anyway after a while a shimmied out from underneath it and went to bed, covered from head to toe in pine needles, until Steph came home.

Once he did all was well and now the tree looks amazing! I have to say its the most perfect tree I've ever had! The cats have been very good with it, Joplin seems like she's a tree pro and just sleeps under it all the time, Hendrix wanted to climb it at first but now he just watched the lights.

So that's the story of my Christmas tree '09

P.S: We have the TACKIEST LED Christmas light ever! It changes from blue to green to pink!

Back at it Post #1- My first award!!!

So I'm back at it as of today and I have a bunch of stuff to catch up on here in the blogging world! But first and foremost I'm very excited because I got my VERY FIRST AWARD from one of my first friends here in the blogging world, One's Cat Nip :D





I'm so happy that people are enjoying my blog and I feel very lucky to have met all of you! I can say honestly that it is a comfort and joy to read all your blogs :D

So here we go:

1. Copy and paste the Kreativ Blogger picture onto your blog. Check
   
2. Thank the person who gave you the award and post a link to their blog. Check
3. Write 7 things about yourself we do not know. Check
4. Choose 7 other bloggers to award. Yikes everyone has one!
   
5. Links to those 7 other bloggers. ......
   
6. Notify your 7 bloggers......

7 Things about me you don't know! I'm going to do this about me because well I've basically told you everything about my cats haha

1. I LOVE the theater! My favorites at this point has to be Wicked (seen it twice), Les Miserables (seen it three times), and Fiddler on the Roof (this may be a little bit premature since in going to see it on the 29th but I know its going to be amazing!). Steph always catches me belting out Broadway tunes in the shower hahaha

2. I have recently realized that I am my mother, I have all her little habits and ticks as well as her ridiculous attention to detail and her care and habit of worrying like crazy about those she loves. In high school we would always be at each others throats because were both stubborn. Its funny to think back to those times now that we get along so well.

3. I'm a huge hockey fan and also a player, nothing makes me feel more alive than getting onto a cold hockey rink or the canal in the dead of winter and skating my heart out

4. I am a Christmas elf...seriously not only am I just grazing 5' tall but I LOVE Christmas time! I start listening to Christmas music in November and the Decorations go up on Dec 1st. I can't explain how much I love the hustle and bustle of the season, everyone just seems to be the spirit of the season. But the best part of all is going to my parents place and spending time with my family.

5. I dressed up as an umpa lumpa for Halloween in grade 12, one of my best costumes ever!

6. I am a huge fan of The Office, I really can't get enough of that show, if you've never seen it you have to give it a chance!

7. Last but not least...in my first year of university right before my very fist exam I dropped my I.D down a grate and go the entire student federation to come and help me get it out!

As for passing this along to 7 other bloggers all of you seem to have it already so I'll just say like the others if you haven't gotten this already please award yourself!!

So again thank you so much One's Cat Nip!

Exam time :S

So I'm going to not be posting for about a week and a half from now because I'm right in the thick of exam period(the last fall exam period of my bio undergrad!). It will be difficult to resist reading all your news and updates, but I'll have something to look forward to once I'm done!! Just a couple of things before I go:

1. Thank you so much to all of you that gave me advice about Hendrix's acne, its starting to clear up a bit and I think that it was from his new obsession with the toilet. He's always rubbing against it ( the seat is plastic) and believe it or not he's actually getting right in there with his face, so we've started closing to door to the bathroom at all times.

2. I was soooo happy to read that Thomas O'Toole from The Paw Relations has returned home after quite the adventure abroad!! I'm sure his whole family is overwhelmed to have him back!

3. I recently read The Holistic Cat: A Complete Guide to Wellness for a Healthier, Happier Cat by Jennifer A. Coscia. It was a VERY interesting and informative read. I don't agree with all of her methods but its definitely a great starting place for someone who like to treat from home. Not only that but she and her cat rescue will really tug at your heatstrings!

4. And lastly I bought a cat tree a while back, but the cats aren't really very interested in it other than for scratching. They don't sit or lay on it at all and I think its because the material is not very comfortable. It feels like thick burlap, which obviously is ideal for their scratching needs but I feel like its not being used to its full potential. I was wondering if anyone had any ideas to make it a little more conducive to relaxing?

Hendrix has acne!

Poor little Hendrix apparently is getting into those "high school" days because I've figured out he has feline acne. I noticed the other day that he had an odd patch of dirt under his chin and thought it was from throwing up his food but when I tried to wash it off it really wasn't too easy. I started to get panicky wonder if this was what fleas looked like?? So I scanned both his and Joplin's entire bodies (not very fun at all with squirmy ones) and I didn't see anything anywhere else. So what else could I do but google it? After alot of research of pictures and descriptions I'm sure of what it is and I'm wanting to be proactive about this, so I've:

• thrown out the plastic food bowl that we have, now using only stainless steel
  
• going to buy Benzyl Peroxy Shampoo in about 10min
• going to wash his chin 2x daily
  
• going to also get a filtered water bowl (I know this is a little extreme but Steph and I are in exam period so time is of the essence)

If anyone has any experience with this is would LOVE some advice!

When will it stop?

My mom called me tonight with some terrifying news. Some of you may have heard about the atrocities at the Toronto humane society in the news, unfortunately being a student I can`t afford cable or newspaper so I only heard about this tonight.

I`ve read the articles and seen the pictures so before clicking on the link please understand that it is very disturbing.Here is the link.

At this moment my cats are sleeping beside me, cuddled right up next to each other (which btw is rather odd for them) and sleeping safely and soundly. I am so grateful that I was able to adopt and take care if them, and yet at the same time I am heart broken for all of the animals who have had to endure this kind of cruelty. The maddening part is that this cruelty came from a society that was supposed to be protecting them. I donate to the Ottawa Humane Society and I have no idea if the two are connected but I can say that I will find out soon. For those of you who read a recent post you`ll know that my mother was looking to adapt a cat, living in Toronto she was most likely going to go to the THS, now she wants to adopt as soon as possible so that she can at least take one cat out of that kind of hell.

How can it be so easy for people to see this kind of treatment and turn a blind eye? Was there not one volunteer to speak up for these animals? Not one person who's stomach turned at the sight of animals in pain?

When will people begin to see animals as living things. We are animals, we are mammals we are mothers and fathers and we have instincts. While we have the capacity for higher brain power that does not mean the life of an animal is worthless. I know of so many instances where a pet has been a huge impact on many peoples lives, just as much as another human being.

I sit here wanting to wish this away. But all I can do hug and hold my two wonderful cats that have brought so much joy to my life in such a short period of time and hope beyond hope that there are people in the Toronto area who are willing to take those poor animals into forever homes.

I'd like to also say that I understand the large demand on a place with so many animals like the Toronto humane society. I know for a fact that they have something like 400 cats up for adoption. I know that there are also awful pet owners who will drop their pets there in the middle of the night in the depths of winter to freeze until an employee finds them in the morning, but the entire point of a place like the THS is that once an animal has dealt with such cruelty that they are brought into an environment that is safe and loving. There should not be an entire centre in downtown but rather an outpost for a much larger facility on a much larger property ( I know for a fact that only 40min outside of the city there are such properties).

That's all I can really write, it was mostly venting so I apologize if this is disjointed but I felt it needed to be said and now the sadness of it all has really taken over and I think I'll just go to bed and keep my cats close tonight.

Please gives all you pets and extra big hug and kiss today.

Easy Like Sunday

Kitty Christmas Gifts?

So I've been wondering what I should get Joplin and Hendrix for Christmas, and I haven't been able to come up with anything other than a bed for Joplin (Hendrix like sleeping in Steph's guitar bag for some reason).

I'd like to get something that would be good for while were out of the house, I feel bad when we're both gone for the day and they don't have anyone to entertain them!

Some questions for you!

So I'm back to blogging! I'm so sorry it's been so long but things get busy and deadlines pop out of no where. I'm very sorry for not visiting any blogs at all, I'll be catching up today and tomorrow.

But for now I have a few questions:

1. Adopting a Cat or a Kitten ?
As many of you read recently in my blog my mom's bunny past away from complications with anesthesia during a surgery. Now that she has had some time to think she starting to talk about adopting a cat. We've been talking and wondering what would be best, an older cat or a kitten. I personally think and older cat would be better not only because they're would not be too too much training but there are so many older cats that need homes. She agreed but also wondered would a cat not become attached like a kitten would? I explained that with Joplin when we adopted her we were like her saviors, taking her out of the cage and bringing her home. With Hendrix he has never known anything but a good home so he is not quite as clingy as Joplin is (however he is still only 6months old). Also my mom would like a cat that has been de-clawed, she and my father have ALL leather furniture, however she does not want to adopt and then de-claw because of her bad experience with Shiny bunny. So I'm asking all of you what you think? Here is all the info in point form:

• cat or kitten?
• which one would be more attached?
• adopt a de-clawed cat or de-claw after?

Now I know that this all can depend from cat to cat but I'm looking for a general idea


2. Hendrix is gorging!
So Hendrix is gorging himself and then throwing up. This happens every once in a while and I'm a little worried. He has his morning wet food (1/4 of a can) and then begins to chomp away at the dry food. I don't want to take away the dry food because Joplin is used to being able to graze and I cannot figure out a place where Joplin can get to but not Hendrix, again please help!!

Thanks to all of you, I've missed blogging!