Time for Thursday Thirteen

Our 13 Reasons for Blogging:

1. To make new friends.
2. To learn about the world - like geography lessons from Jack, Bubbles and Mrs. B's Cecilia, or the Famous Five.
3. To be safe by keeping up on the latest in vishus deer news.
4. To follow the latest in cat fashions.
5. To learn about the best cat toys and products.
6. To show off our furs.
7. To allow Mom to have fun with her camera.
8. To express ourselves to other cats who understand.
9. To spread love.
10. To lend support to kitties in need.
11. To enter cool contests where we actually have a chance of winning a prize.
12. To help Mom (our secretary) understand us better.
13. Because it's FUN.

Visit other Thursday Thirteens.

~J&B

P.S. In yesterday's post about the beautiful cat blogger T-shirt and calendars, Mom neglected to have me expressly acknowledge Robyn of the House of the (Mostly) Black Cats for her efforts in designing the products. Well done!

~Jake

Mom is a Model

Yesterday Mom was very excited to open a special package that came in the mail: her order for the cat bloggers' calendars and a long-sleeved T-shirt. Here I am helping her to model her T-shirt: I'm the handsome kitty pictured on the shirt just above the tip of my ear. This same photo is used for the January page of the beautiful calendar. I'm featured with the tabbies in April, and Mom told me to mention that my mean sister Bathsheba is pictured with the torties in July. Um, Mom said that I shouldn't call my sister mean, but she is! (Mom, just because you're the secretary, you cannot take license with the dictation here, so the word "mean" stays.)

Anyway, family feuds aside, you can get your own blogger cat calendars and other cool stuff . We think they're 20% off through December 3, so order yours now.

For you fluffoholics out there, we'll have a widebody Wednesday post NEXT week.

~Jake

Tortie and Tabby Tuesday

To honor little KC and all she's been through, I'm showing off as a tough a** tortie. Way to go, KC, we torties are tough cookies. Jake and I are so relieved that you're getting better.

~Bathsheba




Well, I might not be a tortie, but I qualify for Tabby Tuesday, and I send good wishes to KC too.

And since only Bathsheba was featured last week for Tummy Tuesday, I thought that I'd show a little of my tummy tonight. Mom got out that flashy thing this evening and, with that strap dangling so tantalizingly, I had to play with it. Mom took many snaps, and this one didn't have the strap to mar the view of me.















Enjoy Tortie, Tummy, Tuxie, and Tabby Tuesday around the Blogosphere.

~Jake

P.S. And remember that Zeus is our reason for the season!

Together At Last!

Mom tricked us with Temptations Treats. She actually got us to stand side by side as we awaited our treats. She had to shoot nearly ten takes because one of us would look away or we'd get those vishus deer eyes from the flash, but we think this one turned out okay:














We hope this doesn't blow our reputations! Remember, it was the treats that did it. And we got a lotta treats for this!

~J&B

Update: Mom is SO frustrated. She was trying to help us update our profile so that we will have this photo there and on our comments, but she just can't get it to work. First it said that the photo file name was too long so she renamed the photo, reposted it in a test post, copied the shorter url and tried again. No luck multiple times. Maybe we'll try again tomorrow.

Monday update: Success! As you can see, now we have our photo in our profile. Mom did the same thing she did yesterday (reposting the shorter named photo in a test post, copying the url, etc.) and this time it worked on the first try. Maybe Mom wasn't so dumb after all and we can blame the problem on blogger.

I've Got Sunshine!

Today was nice and warm for November and I took a nap in the sunshine in my cat TV room.

~Bathsheba

And I lounged on Mom's cushiony chair out on the deck:

~Jake

We like these warm lazy Sundays. We hope all our Internet friends had a nice relaxing weekend. And we wish good health to all the kitties that haven't been feeling too well lately.

~J&B

Thank You, 2 Bs

I participated in the I Love the 2 Bs contest a while back, and though I wasn't one of the winners, Miss Cecilia sent me some prizes just for entering!



I got this cool refrigerator magnet with my name on it and a little fishy toy!


















Here I am playing with my fishy.
















Thank you, Miss Cecilia! It was great getting mail that I didn't have to share with Bathsheba! And good luck with finding a forever home for LT the little tabby.

Love,

~Jake

Thursday 13 - Thanksgiving Edition

This Thanksgiving we are thankful for:

1. Mom and Dad's love.
2. Our warm home.
3. Food in our tummies.
4. Freedom to go outside and enjoy Mother Nature.
5. Good medical care (This may sound contradictory with previous things we've said because we don't like to go to the Vet, but we do value our health.)
6. Catnip.
7. All of our wonderful Internet friends.
8. Sunshine.
9. Our big screen cat TV when we cannot go outside.
10. Dad's long legs for stretching out and napping.
11. Cat toys (like birdies on a stick and hockey pucks)
12. Scratching posts
13. Life

We wish everyone a wonderful Thanksgiving Day, our uniquely American holiday when we give thanks and nearly everyone in the nation eats turkey.

~J&B

Tortie Tummy Tuesday

I don't usually pose on my back, but I was nipped up when Mom took this photo. Way to go, Mom, take advantage of a girl when she's had a little too much!

~Bathsheba

Oh, the Noise!

Weekends should be for relaxing.


But, no, not for Mom and Dad. Yesterday they worked on leaves again and powered up horrible machines, a blower and a shredder. We were peacefully lounging outside when the racket started. Mom was gracious enough to let us escape the noise and nap inside.














And what happens today?

We're just napping in our favorite spots in the house, when Mom gets that toy-sucker-upper monster* out of the closet. We bolted for the back door before she even set up that evil contraption, and Dad mercifully let us out to lounge around on the deck. It's hard for a cat to find any peace around here.


~J&B

(*We believe this expression was coined by Skeezix the Cat. I take great pride in the fact that Mom told me that one of my hockey pucks--a bottlecap, if you will--clogged up the long metal piece of the machine and she had to take it apart and use some wire to dislodge it! ~Bathsheba)

Tales of Devotion Entry

Mom submitted an entry in Skeezix's Tales of Devotion Contest. We invite you to vote for us. Read Mom's submission here. She really does love me, but I think she should have written even more. She doesn't say anything about how I love snuggles and will sleep in her lap, cruise the Jake Highway, keep the yard safe by patroling for those pesky raccoons, rid her of annoying leftovers of chicken and salmon, wash pots and pans, and perform quality control on the comfort of all the cushions both inside and outside the house. I keep this house going; I am the prince. I think I merited more than a couple of paragraphs, but you be the judge. And why did she have to muck up MY entry by combining me with Bathsheba! She drags down the whole ticket and will cost me many votes. Please ignore her and cast your ballot for ME!

~Jake

Jake, you're so full of yourself. Mom could have written more about me - about how I was a great hunter before I retired, how I would rid the garden of those rodent voles and keep the squirrel population in check. She could have mentioned that I follow her faithfully and provide companionship as she gardens. She could have noted that I sleep at her feet and that I am very patient about having breakfast served later on the weekends. And she could have emphasized that I have to endure the stress of living with you, Jake, how you constantly try to intimidate me, how you coldly wrestle me to the floor before dinner, how you take away any toy that I like, how you like to take over the great napping spots. The list goes on. But Mom did express her love for me, and that's the best thing. I know that there are a lot of excellent entries, but I'd appreciate your vote because Mom is truly devoted to us.

~Bathsheba

keebordin lessuns

mom wuz helpin me with lernin the keebord last nite.

this is kinda hard. i think i will keep mom as r sekraterry.

~Jake

Thursday Thirteen - Great Places to Nap

These are our 13 favorite places to take a nap:

1. In my comfy cat bed out on the deck (Jake)
2. Under the bushes in the summertime (J&B)
3. On top of the outside cat stand/scratching post (Jake)
4. Mom or Dad's cushiony deck chairs (J&B)
5. In front of the big screen cat TV (mostly Bathsheba, but occasionally Jake)
6. On the kitchen chairs (Bathsheba)
7. On top of Dad's legs when he's stretched out on the couch (mostly Jake, but occasionally Bathsheba)
8. On my throne in the cat/computer room (Jake)
9. On Mom and Dad's bed (Bathsheba)
10. In front of the fireplace when it's cold outside and Dad has a nice hot fire burning (Jake)
11. In the middle of the carpet where I dare Mom or Dad to trip over me (Jake)
12. Next to Mom's dirty clothes pile (Jake)
13. On the sofa curled up by the pillows and afghans (mostly Jake)

As you can see from this long list, Jake sleeps practically anywhere. I have more definite preferences.

~Bathsheba

See other Thursday Thirteens.

Tummy Tuesday

Jake: I wanted to do a post for Tabby Tuesday. . .

Bathsheba: . . . and I wanted to do a post for Tortie Tuesday, but Mom wanted us to stop arguing and do something completely different, SO -

In honor of Tummy Tuesday, we present our beautiful cousin Juni-Purr from the Richmond area:



~J&B

Meezer Monday: Toby Versus Jake

Our meezer cousin Toby likes to sleep in a nice secluded closet, on clothes specially laid out for his comfort:

while Jake likes to nap next to Mom's smelly shoes and dirty clothes pile.

I rest my case.

~Bathsheba

Jake Highway Maintenance

The leaves keep coming down, and my highway crew was busy at work clearing yesterday. Here I am taking a break from my supervising duties.

Here's the cleared area at a major intersection on the Jake Highway. It's the ramp to the decked portion of the highway:

It rained last night and it's still raining today, and now there are more obstructions on my highway. It's hard to get a good crew to keep the highway in pristine condition, and I need it clear to maintain top speeds.

~Jake

Feetsie Friday

I'm one of those kitties with extra toes. It's called polydactylism. In Skeezix's weekend catblogging post, he noted that Jelly Pizza was showing off old lady kittie feets, so I HAD to show you mine.














Here's a close-up of my front paws:















And here you can plainly see my left paw just after Mom handed me a kitty treat:
















When I was a little kitten, Grandpa affectionately called me "Big Foot." Other people say that I have "mitten paws." I generally like having extra toes because the extra CLAWS come in handy around pesky Jake. The only thing I don't like is that it makes for a more challenging pawdicure.

Are there any other polydactyl cats in the blogosphere?

~Bathsheba

Rolling Hills on a Warm Afternoon

It's been nice and warm for the past couple of days, and today was a holiday for Mom. We hung out on the deck while she and Dad went to nearby Bull Run Mountain for an afternoon hike. They liked the view from the top of the mountain, but we prefer the view of our own backyard since we do not like to travel.

~J&B

Thursday Thirteen - Sounds

We dislike the sound of:

1. Thunder (I made this number one, though Bathsheba doesn't mind it as much as I do. I'm bigger than her so I get my way. ~Jake)
2. Leaf blowers and shredders (That's the worst part about this time of year.)
3. Vacuum cleaners (aka toy sucker uppers)
4. Barking dogs (like the big German shepherd who lives on the other side of the tall wooden fence)
5. Chainsaws (Mom made sure we put that one down because that's the sound she hates the most. She's some kind of treehugger.)
6. Squealing children
7. Telephone ringing (especially when I'm on the bed peacefully sleeping with Mom ~Bathsheba)
8. Fireworks (Hey, we're as patriotic as the next cat, but who needs fireworks!)
9. Doorbell ringing
10. The prisoner transport unit (what Mom calls a "cat carrier") being brought into the house from the shed
11. Mom opening the flea treatment applicator (We don't care how quiet Mom tries to be with it, we hear it and don't like what we hear.)
12. Lawnmowers (At least that's mostly stopped for the season, but it sure ruins a nice spring or summer afternoon nap.)
13. "NO!" said in an angry voice

All of those sounds make us bolt in search of a nice quiet dark spot. What sounds do YOU dislike?

See other Thursday thirteens.

~J&B

Widebody Wednesday

This is our cousin Chelsea who lives in the Richmond area. She is super extra-fluffy! We're not sure about those laser beam eyes, but we think she might use them to stun the vishus deer.

~J&B

Dona Nobis Pacem

Grant us peace.

~ Jake and Bathsheba

Meezer Monday #2

Here's a photo of our cousin Toby. He likes to hide when people visit, but Mom found him behind the sofa that day. No one is safe when she has her camera!

We know we're a little early for Meezer Monday, but it is already after 11 p.m. here in Virginia.

~J&B

The Jungle is Dead

Last night it was so cold that the jungle on our deck died.

Mom said that it was in the 20s. Even the water in my dish froze. Dad took a lot of the jungle plants into the house a week or two ago, but there wasn't room for everything.






Don't worry about me; I slept on my throne in the computer cat room last night. There are piles of comforters and blankets to make it warm, soft and comfy for me.

~Jake
















I'm going to miss my jungle, but Mom promises that I'll have a new one in the spring.

~Bathsheba








We still have a pretty dogwood tree in our front yard:





















And our backyard world still looks bright and cheery despite all the leaves on the ground. Mom and Dad worked very hard raking (Mom) and blowing (Dad) the leaves this afternoon, but we suspect there will be lots more on the ground in the morning.

~J&B

Thursday Thirteen - Foods

Thursday Thirteen: My 13 Favorite Foods

1. Chicken
2. Fresh salmon or other fish
3. Cheese
4. Turkey
5. Steak
6. Gravy
7. Fancy Feast – all flavors
8. Purina Cat Chow
9. Bathsheba’s Science Diet Crunchies (I think I like them because I can steal them from her.)
10. Fresh bread (still in the plastic wrapper)
11. Shrimp (no cocktail sauce, please)
12. Buttered popcorn (Dad throws pieces to me, but I still haven’t quite mastered the catch.)
13. Avocado or cantaloupe (I sometimes snag these from the rinds that are put in the compost pile outside.)

~Jake

Jake will eat almost anything, and he practically inhales his food. He is not discriminating enough for a cat. What cat will eat from the nasty compost heap! My list does not approach thirteen different foods, though milk and butter/margarine are tops on my list. Mom only gives me the tiniest taste of milk because she says she would not want to clean my litter box if I had as much as I would like. Maybe I need to make friends with a cow.

~Bathsheba