Kitty I Need You

The Unimpressed Sledder

Haha. She can't put her arms down! This was yesterday. We suited her up and dragged her outside. She didn't know what to make of all the snow. Mostly she showed indifference. We pulled out the baby sled, strapped her in and went for a jog thru the yard. She displayed a continuation of apathy. So we set the woods on fire and swung her by her ankle from a remote control helicopter. Nothing.



We didn't get around to any kind of snowman or snowfort or snow-life-size-replica-of-Lou Ferigno, but it was a decent exposure to the frigid tundra. Today we'll stay inside.


Ready for extended deep-sea diving


I hope when we clear it off there isn't a 2000 Camry underneath


she's bored already


a snowy Schtuppe kept us company


bored as hell, or maybe cold toes


she took a 45 minute nap in this exact spot


Yuula's first snow angel


she sits well in the snow


a snowy family


moisture makes for sweet exposure

She Left Before Me

New things today. May not be new for long. We'll have to see. But she left before me. That's a new one. I gotta say, it was nice not to be up at 3:30. But not getting used to it yet. The day will tell. And all is sunny. Except for the deer who ate her pickle plant. Schtuppe is taking care of him. I don't expect it to be an issue,

Sprung Has Spring

Oh lovely day. It was ridiculous on Sunday! We've been dreading the work that has to be done in the yard after this winter, but the nothing could stop us from suiting up, or down, and jumping off the front porch in this lovely weather. Of course today it's raining and chilly, so I guess it'll make us appreciate yesterday that much more.



Things of spring, like spring cleaning... we finally got all the Christmas stuff out of the back room and into the shed, now that I've sold my CD shelves, there's finally room. But now there's boxes of CDs in the house. It's a win/lose situation. But at least it feels progressive. Wreaths & snowmen & mangers & tree skirts & light strands gone til next year. Or later this year.



And animals! Birds chirping everywhere. A moment of the day was spent listening to the bird calls go back and forth and pretending we understood. Those birds say some crazy shit. The cats are out and L'Schtuppe found a frog. We giddily watched her chase the hippity-hopper across the front yard and then shrieked in horror as she munched off one of his legs. Whoops.



And BBQ! You know this pregnant woman couldn't wait to crack open that treasure trunk, sealed in frozen abandon all winter, just staring at us from the back porch wondering what on Earth we could be eating all this time. We cracked it open and it was as glad to see us as we were it. Laura had pork steak on the thaw, as if she'd been planning this moment for years now. She chopped up some potatoes into wedges and cooked up some corn. What a meal for a spring celebrate! Then she did this...



We're not even halfway.

Fight! Fight!

All The Cool Cats Are Doing It

Aww man we found these awesome new collars that all the cool cats are wearing! They're so stylish and the cats seem to really like them! It doesn't make it hard for them to eat or drink or not walk in to walls or anything! The price is pretty steep but you can't put a price on comfort. And the best part is, when you buy one collar you get a free ovariohysterectomy! Bargain!!!

Good Mood Day

We wake up with animals all over us every morning. Sometimes earlier than morning. It's usually little Fawsja or Obladi, or sometimes it's Alps who is humongous. This morning it was Gabukobiwe. They were all in there somewhere tho. That's gonna have to change real soon.

I was gone all weekend. Short weekend tho. Saturday morning to Sunday evening with 6 hours of drive time in there.

The gang did well and I think I may have broken my previous record for amount staged in one weekend, but I can only take so much credit. Be back next weekend to finish it off and start to clean it up, because it is a mess. Oh is it a mess.

Got home last night to catch the last couple minutes of the Jets/Chargers game. I was listening on the radio but I must drive thru some kinda of Bermuda triangle area because every 10 minutes my radio became nothing but intense static and I had to search the airwaves for another station carrying the broadcast. Annoying only because every time I got back to the game I had missed an interception or the score had changed, but I expected to miss the game so... something's better than nothing. Hope I'll be so lucky next weekend. And I'm not gonna even talk about who I want to win for fear of jinxing it. If you know me, you know.

But it was all good because I came home to a rested wife, some Manwiches and some delicious blueberry themed dessert. Followed by my previously mentioned night of kitten cuddling, how could I not be in a good mood today.

Are These Guys Serious?

Schtuppe Waited

Lots from the past week, but first things first...



We thought something was up when we got home at 2am Tuesday morning and Schtuppe wouldn't leave us alone, but it wasn't til about 6 hours later when her water broke (in our bed) that I shook Laura and said "I think it's coming". We sprung to action building her a little nest out of wire shelving & old towels and sure enough, plop, out came baby. Only one. Kinda strange but maybe not. Or maybe she's not done.



She looks done.

We had plans yesterday but that all changed when Schtuppe made it abundantly clear that she didn't want to be left alone. I think she actually waited for us to get home to have the little guy. She's probably been waiting a couple days, poor thing. So it was a day of rest. I guess we both could use it. And as for the runt... since it's only the lone kitten, I guess we'll keep it.

Name time.



PS: We're pretty sure Alps is the proud papa.

Been There Now Done That

It's kinda ridiculous that we've lived here for 8 months and never made our way downtown for a leisurely stroll up Main Street. We've driven thru quite a bit and said "Oh, look at that place" and "I'd like to eat there" but have yet to stop. That was the conversation we had yesterday morning, right before we got dressed and hit that little strip of hometown goodness. Here's how it went.



We parked ourselves at the southwest end, near the Dunkin Donuts so we could start off with a hot tea. Off to a good start. We headed down the sidewalk, peering in curious windows and picking up random local literature like tourists. The first stop was at a shop called Fleur-de-Lis. Sounds a little fruity but it actually had some really great stuff. Amazingly fine throws from New Hampshire, a kingly buffet table from New Zealand that had we found a $1200 dollar bill outside on the sidewalk we would've bought immediately, and a few other knick-knacks that may or may not be exactly what we may be looking for in the coming months. Cryptic. But my favorite thing had to be Shut The Box. The shopkeeper, Martha, explained the game and it's origin, how is was originally used by sailors to pass the time and how nowadays people use it to... well... pass the time and maybe make some cash. Ha. I want one. Birthday in 2 months.



Next stop: Dunkelbergers! I just love that we have a store called Dunkelbergers in our town. It's got such a great 50's ring to it. We went in and had a look at some kayaks and some hats and decided we'd like to take up fishing.




Further along we came upon the upscale antiques within Ibis. Inside was a decent spread of estate sale antiques and a mild stodgy elderly man who within the first 60 seconds we were in his shop professed to being a parsons scholar, showed us his million dollar farmhouse he's trying to get rid of, trashed the uprising of commercial shops along Main Street and tried to sell us a odd little coat rack. But when I mentioned I liked one of the filler sketches inside an overpriced glass frame that I had no intention of buying he did his best to recreate it on the back of a Pocono Record flyer with a felt tip pen. 15 second sketch indeed.



It's actually pretty close.



Around the bend we hit another run-of-the-mill antique shop, more our speed and found lots of great little hidden treasures. We haven't been to a proper antique dealer in a long while, so it was a welcome return to form.




Heading back up the other side of the road, back towards our car we stopped at a few spots, the record store (didn't catch the name) which even for me have become overwhelming obsolete. Sad days. At least they were playing a good Air album. We got the munchies and stopped in the Café Europa for a snack. I got the Russian honey cake and Laura got the Russian hot pretzel, which looked mysteriously similar to the Super Pretzel you buy from Z's. The amount of Russian menu items served at this Café Europa... the irony was lost on no one.




A momentary diversion of course landed us in a square of sorts where Laura says they erect the town Christmas tree. Guess we'll have to catch that next year. But we did check out the canons.



After such a nice day we decided to cook a favorite meal of ours, a nice spring mix salad & chicken curry pizza, and it was scrumptious.




So scrumptious that even the cats were having their share.



Yay. Now we know our town a little better. Good for us.

Latest On Cats

My mother has asked to be updated on all the cats and kittens on the blog. So here is the latest...

They're huge.

















You'll notice there's no shots of Yayoi. She has recently joined a voodoo cult that carries the belief that were she to have her photo taken, her soul would be stripped from her body. Oh Yayoi, what will you think of next.

Consider yourself updated.