Snow Covered Malamute

Our Malamute is just loving the snow.  Being a silly human, I worried she might be getting cold sitting out in the snow - so after I took the picture, I made her come inside so I could dry her off - which resulted in the mopping of the kitchen floor after she shook most of the snow off everywhere.  I'm sure she'll want out again soon, since she is more excited about the first snow than most of the humans for sure.

Its a beautiful night out.  There is something about falling snow that is still magical to me.  The world somehow is prettier covered in a thick blanket of flakes of water - magical the way the soft light from the street lamps casts soft silhouettes of winter-bare branches upon the snow.    I wish my camera wasn't charging or I'd show you what I mean.  The dog enjoyed eating the snow and came in covered in it.  After a quick drink of water, she really wanted to go back out, but we had to tell her it was bed time and it totaly is for me.  I'd better curl up and go to sleep before I fall asleep sitting here typing.  

Furlion Loki in the Jungle Safari

Who needs toys when you  have streamers, both toddlers and cats agree that streamers are much more fun that toys and even cupcakes....  Thank you Loki for providing me with Cat replacement therapy as I am missing my Molly and Zoe greatly.

Molly can sleep anywhere

The last few weeks Molly can be found lying atop seemingly uncomfortable piles of stuff - like having her head half in the Christmas card box.  She's such a card, our little Molly-cat.

Zoe's Mittens

Usually Zoe tucks in all of her limbs and tails and even nose when she is snoozing, but this time she left her mittened front paws out for show.  I'm missing my wee kitties while away, but its nice to see family and I know they are getting well taken care of.

I hope she is keeping her mittens out of Molly's food and that Molly is keeping her mittens out of people's drinking water.

Happy Holidays!!!

Cat and "Wireless" Mouse

We found some 25 springs for Molly hiding under the stove.  Molly has been chasing them like crazy until she needed a nap break.  Shortly after this picture was taken she went to wash her feet and then came and left wet kitty paw prints all over my lap top... Sigh.  Its a good things she is extra cute.

Now she is off to play with spring again :D

Appreciating Having the Use of 2 Feet

I'm feeling reflective and thankful and oddly profuse in my use of words.  I sometimes wonder what all the English teachers who had to force me kicking and screaming to write a journal would think of my blogging.  Not that I've been the blogger of the week for the last few years - but still more journaling than I've ever done in my life in spite of the fact that I limit what I can say to the bland and mundane and pretty pictures and cats.  Molly is sprawled out on the kitchen table, which is used more often as a desk space than a table.

I've got some music on and was doing a bit of "dancing".  I wouldn't exactly call it dancing - but it struck me with great gratitude that its the first time in months that I can move easily on both feet.  I love being bare-foot - so even having to wear shoes was a drag at home.  Breaking my foot, as random and relatively minor a set-back as it was, as greatly increased my gratitude for my feet.  I love walking, running, climbing and even sorta dancing.  I missed hiking and biking greatly this summer in Canmore - even walking around time I frequently had to sit because the underused muscles in my calf would cramp up or my foot would feel sore and now its currently too cold for a lot of walking about and furthermore my current insulated rubber boots are a size too big and I can't walk long distances in them because they make my toes on my healing foot cramp up.  I'm already looking forward to this summer when I'll be able to walk along the Bow River and hike up to Grassi Lakes and maybe even make it back up to Healy Pass this summer.  There is a deep streak of mountain girl in my soul and my feet long to carry me  Lake O'hara and through fields of alpine meadow flowers and see the spring orchids burst into life.  My eyes long to watch the sun set behind the mountains and watch the mountains disappear in heavy summer rains.  I love Baker Lake - but with the winter weather set in - I probably won't get farther than the Sewage Lagoon or Dump before we are back in the mountains.

Some Kitties Just Love their Toys

Zoe spent 20 minutes lovingly grooming this feather toy (which sits much stiller than Molly).  She has now retired to her make-shift kitty bed on the end of the couch.  S. says I can get the kitties beds when we go back south.  Molly is happily chasing a spring.  I think she has chased and lost at least 7 this morning.  I see I'm going to have to stock up on more at Christmas.

We've found a wonderful pair of cat sitters of the Christmas break who are going to spoil our kitties rotten with attention and playtime.  They said they didn't need money to babysit them, but I figure we may need to pay ransom to get them back - afterall they are two of the coolest kitties out there as long as you don't mind getting woken up at 6:30 to make sure they get fed by 7 am.  They are very strict about that.  Its definitely a relief to know that they will get lots of love over Christmas as our cats are very people oriented and I don't think they'd forgive us for leaving them alone with food for 2 weeks.  On the other hand, I'm a little worried they won't want us back after 2 weeks of spoiling.

Zoe seems to have settled at a healthy weight and Molly is starting to fill out and lose the kitten skinniness, although, she is still littler than Zoe.  If she doesn't grow any more, I think they'll end up about the same size.  We still aren't sure, based on her tail length and paw size that she is quite finished growing.  Molly has developed a complex vocabulary of meows, mrrs and squeaks, and a few whines and cries which she uses to tell us important things like "feed me", "pet me", "find me a spring", "why aren't you out of bed yet", and "Meanie!  I want to play on the counter".  I think Zoe is still in charge.  Every once and a while, I'll catch her kicking Molly off a prefered perching space - usually my feet.  Zoe definitely has favourite places.  She likes to sit on the back of the arm chair in regal cat pose, but usually sleeps curled up, tail over nose. If I think she looks really cold, I'll usually tuck a blanket around her, which she doesn't mind.  I'm such a sap some days.  Molly on the other hand tends to prefer to sleep sprawled out - sometimes even just lying on the wood floor rather than some cosy cushioned space.  Both seem to like my fleece blankets - but then again, who doesn't love fleece blankets.

Its been the first quiet weekend in a while and I've enjoyed being able to relax and get an extra bit of sleep.  While I can't believe that its 9 days into December already, I'm ready for a bit of break in the grind.  I'm sure there were a tonne of things I should have gotten done, but somehow, sleeping was what I probably needed to do to kick this silly, sneezy cold.

Molly has just lost her spring and has come chirping and rubbing my leg... which continued to a bit of whining since I decided to type first and find her spring second.    Oh, Molly and her springs :D.

I hope you've all enjoyed my rambling treatise on my cats.  They are definitely awesome.  If you happen to live in Calgary, I highly recommend adopting from AARCS as they do a really good job socializing animals and they have some 56 odd kitties looking for homes right now and more kittens to be put up on the board and more requests coming in all the time for them to rescue others if they have any foster space.  Otherwise, if you live elsewhere, there are lots of great rescue organizations out there and no shortage of cats and kittens and dogs for that matter looking for a good home.

Double Decker Cat Perch

We brought out the rocking chair (briefly) for a small gathering and the cats are thrilled (they are also the reason that we've stowed it away in the office.)  I'm pretty sure they spent the whole night sleeping here - which meant my feet were cold but I was able to toss and turn as much as I liked without injuring a kitten.  The cats were very good for our guests - although a bit too helpful during clean up and food prep phases - earning Molly a brief stay in the bedroom so we could get done.

Its wonderfully peaceful here this morning and the reorganizing S. did yesterday makes our main area look much bigger.  The cat's approve of most of it, but they regret that there is no longer an easy way to get up to the top of the barge order boxes in the hall.  Zoe looked miffed when her attempt to jump the distance didn't work out.  I think they'll forgive us as long as we leave the rocker out, but it probably isn't a great idea since they like to launch off of it.