As you all know, we put Trudy to sleep on August 13, 2007. She was cremated on August 14, 2007...and, we got her ashes back the following weekend in this pretty little box -- which is now on a shelf in our living room. It came with an engraved name plate which we affixed on the inside of the lid. We have been missing her terribly, but we are glad every day that she is no longer suffering.


As a household, we will always have a hole in our hearts for Miss Trudy. The boys were missing their sister...Peanut, especially, was walking around meowing and howling, looking for Trudy for days. We still miss her non-stop purring, her instant appearance whenever you called for her, her love of tuna water, her insatiable need to rub her cat lips on us when she wanted to be pet... We have ALL needed some cheering up...and, we had an available spot in our place to offer someone special a new home! So...


...Meet Nutmeg! It was a difficult choice, but this little bundle stood out from the crowd at PetSmart's Adoption Day as the best candidate to join our little, not-so-little family. She's very outgoing and she has a cool orange spot on her head. The boys accepted her relatively easily -- we only had them segregated for one day!


Jackson offered to give her a bath...to wash off the shelter smells...in a rather untraditional manner!


You can see that Peanut is pretty oblivious to her presence when he is sleeping with his dad...


...And, after a rough start of throwing up whenever he looked at her...from fear(!)...Noodle is now able to take a nap with her on the sacred chair...


Her first major act of mischief??? Eating through the wire on these headphones for her Daddy's XBOX 360! Surprisingly, Daddy was not that upset...probably because it gave him the perfect excuse to buy the better X2 wireless headphones from Turtle Beach...


Vive l' XBOX 360!
Merci beaucoup, ma petite Nutmeg!

Love,
Daddy XOXOXO


We also just got back from Connecticut and visiting Mommie Dearest for a Belated 4th-of-July-Birthday Celebration -- she's a Firecracker Baby! Here we are in the dark making motion trails with our super-long sparklers. You can see some of our other fun with explosives on her blog.

Labels: birthdays, blogging, cats, ChooChoo, current events, cute, daddy, family, fireworks, funny, lizzard, love, memories, mom, noodle, Nutmeg, Nutty, pets, photos, XBOX 360

Okay, so this photo is from a better time in Trudy's life...when she still had all of her fur intact...But, the sentiment is the same!

The video [click on the image when you are done reading] is from yesterday -- Jackson got in trouble for chasing his sister out of her little cardboard-box-tray-thing (from the recent canned cat food purchase) -- which she has been enjoying sitting in lately. And yes, I know, the apartment is very messy at the moment...what, with all the kitty nursing we have been doing...and not wanting to upset her with the vacuum! We will be cleaning TODAY because I can not stand it anymore! The man would be fine with living in squalor -- so long as he can play XBOX 360 -- which he is welcomed to return to just as soon as we straighten this place up a bit!

Ugh. Double Ugh.

Labels: cancer, cats, ChooChoo, current events, family, jackie, love, Nutty, pets, pictures, video

As filthy as that sounds, it was all pretty innocent. I was taking a little nap and these two (Peanut and Noodle) decided that the crook of my leg under my butt was a good place to sleep. Since I sleep half on my side and half on my stomach, I always have one leg bent up and one leg straight -- so they were actually sleeping on top of my straight leg. Rest assured, this was not good for my circulation in that limb! I was woken up by the man snapping pictures... Eventually, we dismantled this cozy little arrangement because my leg was getting numb and I needed to use the bathroom. But, it was very toasty and sweet while it lasted. ;-)

In other news, Trudy has finished her course of liquid antibiotics. Now, she just needs to continue one daily pill, which is not so bad. We have been monitoring and recording her weight, hairball puking incidents, etc. She has been slowly putting on weight, but it is really difficult to keep her interested in any one particular food. She likes certain foods one day, then she gets bored and will not eat them the next day.

Today we bought a couple of new foods to try. She devoured an entire plate of Whiskas Mixed Grill in Gravy -- a really creepy, juicy concoction that comes in a pouch, of all things. SHE LOVED IT! I guess she liked the idea of eating like an astronaut? ChooChoo in Space, woo hoo! Just you wait though. We will buy a few more pouches of this stuff and she will probably never eat it again...which means the garbage disposal cats, Peanut and Jackson, will come along and eat it for her. It is good to know that her finickiness will result in her brothers' gaining weight, and not her. Just what I wanted.

However, Noodle is a good boy. He is universally finicky and barely eats his wet food. He is a dry-brown-pellet man, mostly -- I do not expect him to gain any extra weight as a result of the Kitty-Buffet table.

And now, I think I will have some Corn Flakes...all this food talk made me hungry for a snack...Damn Cats!

Labels: cats, ChooChoo, food, jackie, noodle, Nutty, pet peeves, pets

As you can see from this picture (click to enlarge it), the Hulk is not feeling so good these days. He doesn't seem to be eating and has had an ongoing case of froggy hemmorhoids...that puffiness around his butt-area is not normal. He is very deflated elsewhere and we are worried that he may die soon. Every once in a while, I am able to get him to eat a couple of worms, but not today (see the worm in the foreground?) If he wastes away any more, he will not last much longer. I believe he may be starting to suffer the early effects of kidney failure because he is dark and spotty in color. The only thing that probably keeps his body from filling with poisons is his soaking in his pool and excreting through his skin. Anyway, we are keeping an eye on him in his quarantine tank. We shall see...

Luckily, Miss Grey, Little Green, Fidel, Elian, and the Bung Monkies are all doing great. Little Brown died a couple of weeks ago (he got very weak and looked as though he may have had an infection - we put him to sleep - by forced hibernation with cold temperature - the most humane method for a frog.) So, with some luck, the losses to our frog menagerie will stay small.

In sunnier news...who says window sills are not made for sleeping?



Not this guy apparently! Peanut is just slim enough to fully enjoy any sunny window sill in your home. Give him a call.


We recently hung out with my favorite little chickadee...



We brought her Oma [German translation: granny) along with us to visit her and her parents for a belated Christmas...and let's just say that she was spoiled rotten! Especially by her Grams. However, our Black and Decker toy jigsaw toolset with goggles [called "gobbles" all day by her lol], tape measure and level, was by far the biggest hit! The set of wooden blocks from Oma was a close second though. Her feather boas were her favorite clothing items received by us. All in all, we had a great time watching her methodically rip the wrapping paper --- she's very into the process as well as the gifts :)

Labels: cats, frogs, Hulk, isabelly, Nutty, pets