Shrove Tuesday Shortie

Call it Shrove Tuesday, Fat Tuesday, Mardi gras or whatever you will... I just got back from church where I spent the last couple of hours stuffing my gullet with fresh-out-of-the-deep-fryer donuts, yammering up a storm with friends and playing games!!

So bloated (in the best possible way, of course) and sleepy, I sat down at the computer and thought, "What in the world will I do for a post? I sure don't have the energy to track the kittehs, hoping they'll do something cute and I really should spend some time with them since I haven't been home all day..."

I know! I know! All those pics of pretty Miss Bitty taken during the snow storm! So here you go, folks... more of Miss Bitty, thanks to my overindulgence! ;-)

Our gang liked the snow storm, too.

Here's a set of pics of the Space Paws gang taken during and after our recent Snowmaggedon, as it's come to be called. The kittehs really do seem to have gotten used to me being around all day and I've got to say I'm going to miss being around them... even if I am actually looking forward to going back to work. Cabin fever sets in quickly, I'm afraid.

So, if you hadn't heard by now... 44.3" in 5 days in Baltimore. 49.9" within 8 days. 79.9" this winter (previous record, 62.5" in 2003). As you can see, some of the mounds are taller than a minivan! And they're calling for more snow on Monday. I don't care if it's only supposed to be a couple of inches... enough already!!


Miss Winnie, the intrepid, crowded the door almost every time I went out. Figuring she wouldn't go far, I let her explore. She had a nice long tour of the porch on this evening. And yes, the snow fell as deep as the porch. Have I mentioned I'm heartily sick of snow?


Here's the Bitty, doing her cute thing... all floofy toes and tummy and tail and adorable little tongue. She was a love bug that morning.


And that afternoon, she just looked lovely in the setting sun.

Miss Lilo deigned to pose for us, too. The whir of the flashy box coming on usually seems to be her cue to exit. ;-) After a brief bit of hissiness on Friday, things are going quite well between her and the residents. Most close passes don't even merit a warning growl now. Yay! And she has become quite the lap sitter. This seems to have inspired more interest in said perch among the General Population. I'm loving the competition for lap, personally!

When she's not looking for a lap, Peggy Sue usually settles down on the Hubble throw. I snagged a pet session with her on video this week, so that will be coming to you soon.

And a great pic of Grey going after Bitty. Yes, this is still going on! It's an almost daily event and the outcome is never different. She gains the high ground and he won't go above the middle step (one step higher than the one he's on here). This time he has an audience in Lilo, too. When he gave up the chase and decided to get down, he realized he was trapped between the girls. You could almost see him trying to figure a way out. Nobody gave ground for quite a while!

Snowy Potpouri

Ummmm... I forgot to post yesterday! LOL! Went to my neighbor's for dinner, got home and went to bed with Miss Lilo (I like to spend the occasional night in the guest bedroom with my quarantined fosters). Never even gave posting a thought! *sigh* And this morning was snow clearing. In case you hadn't heard, the mid-Atlantic states got nailed.

Coming up soon, I've got some treats for you. Doc Phyllis AND Ali both sent updates!! Yay (and thank you, ladies)! I'll be posting them on Monday and Tuesday (a treat to myself to have ready made posts on a workday... heehee!).

Back to the present... When I finally signed on today, I had a message from Wendy that she'd once again worked her magic on a few of our pics. Miss Lilo, Percy and Aggie are featured so zip on over and check them out. There's a link over in our sidebar, too... Miss Wendy's is a great place to go for a laugh and to meet the furbabes of a lot of bloggers!


Yesterday, when the flakes had just started to fall, we saw something new and different. Some background to set the stage: Ever since Miss Aggie left (coincidence or trigger?), Grey has shown an extreme interest in Miss Bitty... chasing her whenever he sees her. Hmmm... I wonder if Annie is jealous... she's still sleep with Grey, you know! ;-) Anyway, there are no blows, hissing or growling, she just runs for cover or escapes to the heights. Up until yesterday, Grey showed little desire to use the stairs or catwalk, no less follow her there.

I'm sitting and relaxing before dinner when, suddenly, Bits streaked across the living room, with Grey close on her heels. She zipped up the stairs and Grey charged up right behind her... to about the middle where he stalled... apparently realizing he was treading in unfamiliar territory... and she had the high ground. Bitty, indeed had stopped and, paw raised, was ready to defend her catwalk.

Our boy evidently decided discretion was the better part of valor and, after some indecision, finally retreated. I wonder if this spells the beginning of the end for Miss Bitty's retreat? Time will tell.

And finally, some shots from this morning. At 8 am over 20 inches had fallen. I'm not sure what the total is now, but it's deep for this neck of the woods. That's my wonderful neighbor, Gary, who used the snowblower on our walks and driveways and all I had to do was try to push 20+ inches of snow off of my ancient (circa 1950s) aluminum awning. I adore that awning, as ugly as it is, and didn't want it to collapse. It's the perfect pitch for feeling cozy on the porch and shaded from the brutal B'more sun in the summer.

It was pretty hysterical with me leaning out of the upstairs windows with a broom on a telescoping wand and a shovel (to get the part close to the house). The unnatural angle made it darn hard work! The snow doesn't look nearly as deep in the pics as it does in real life and you can't really tell it was still snowing! In fact, it just stopped after 4 pm.

Happy New Year!!

We want to wish you a blessed and peace filled New Year, gentle readers! My resolution for this year is to take better care of the gifts with which I've been blessed, and that includes the critters.

Our holiday was spent just loving up on each other... figured that was the right way to start things off for the year. Funny, how quickly we let the bustle of our lives get in the way of that sometimes.

The guys had lots of fun today, including the girls making a Percy sandwich! His dismount in the video is a little ungainly, but sweet Percy was just fine and proceeded to play a game of chase, meeting Bitty at the human staircase just seconds after filming.

First off, I am so sorry about the sporadic posting!! Between work and the holidays my plans are just going "splat!"

And next, sorry for yet another low quality cell phone pic. BUT... I'm glad I took it!! By the time I got back with the real camera, Bitty was stretching and leaving. Guess I wasn't as quiet as I thought when I got this shot of her SLEEPING on the catwalk! This is new and different!! :-)

Acrobatics on the Walk

Well, grooming, actually! It really amazes me how comfy they've gotten with the walk, turning on a dime, and plunking down for grooming.

We had our first snow of the season here in B'more today. Fat flakes that are still on the grass, but didn't lay on the street. Percy is the only one who hasn't experienced snow, but I think I'll wait until it's good'n'crisp'n'deep before introducing him. It is always such a stitch to watch the first experience. *Sigh* With any luck we'll find him a home before then and his furever mom and/or dad can have the pleasure!!!

Board (In)Action

Miss Bitty had been charging back and forth across the kitteh walk so I tried to film a bit. It was the signal to halt. All action stopped when I started filming. Fortunately, Mr. Percy came to the rescue with his adorable belly. And we got a little shot of Miss Peggy Sue in there, too!

I did take another clip with a little more action, but "North by Northwest" was on in the background and the sound was very distracting. Dang, I didn't know I watched TV with the volume up so high!! ;-)

PS- Those popcorn boxes in the clip are the leftovers from Halloween. *sigh* We usually get about 125-150 kids in a night but, I guess because of the drizzle on Saturday, this year only 54.

Catching up is haaard to do! (Should be a song, don't you think?) I must apologize to our blog friends, I'm trying but this is taking a bit longer than I thought!! If I haven't been by your blog yet, I'm a comin'!! I've missed keeping up with our friends, but little things like work and takin' care of the critters do come first. :-)

So, yet another quick post of current pics. At this point I think I'll save the "catchup with Space Paws" post for the weekend when I may actually have the time to do a half way decent job composing it. Anyhow here's what went on yesterday:

I made it to the top, but I'm not so sure about that board thing.

Nice view from here, though!

OK, down doesn't look quite as easy.

Now what is that little twerp, Percy, up to??


She's on the steps so let me try the board.

She's not moving... now how do I get off of here???


What's all the ruckus out there? Can't a man cat get some sleep around here?

Is the human man coming back or is this bed mine again?

Why, yes, I am incredibly handsome, aren't I? You're just noticing??


Percy and Aggie both tried out the new kitteh stairs and walk. Once she took the first step down (which took quite a while, as opposed to the decision to go up, which was almost instantaneous), Aggie delicately picked her way down, step by step... all the way down. She didn't skip a single step, even though it would have been a very easy jump anywhere along the way!

Percy thought he'd check out what Aggie was up to, but seemed to get a little nervous about half way across the walk. After debating for a bit, he chose to back up, all the way to the human staircase!! Of course while he was deciding, he had to ask the opinion of everyone around, quite loudly.

This disturbed Mr. Grey, who had resumed his ownership of the bed in the guest room. I think he misses dad, though, since he nuzzled the bed sheets folded up on the pillow!

Space Paws is Back On The Air

Hi folks! Thanks again for your patience! My family and I had a great week with Dad, who came up from Florida for the festivities, and my nephew's wedding was a blast!

The reason for the hiatus: Mark and Elizabeth at the reception. The newlyweds have four fur babies already! (It runs in the family!)


I've got a lot of catching up to do with all our friend's blogs, a week's worth of Space Paws email, etc.!! It may take me a few days. I want to thank all of you for your encouraging words about taking this break. (And a special thank-you shout to Brian for stamping and thanking us during our hiatus! I'll be passing along the love this week, Brian!)

My Dad (the Opster - family slang, from "Opa," which means grandfather) sure kept me hopping while he was here - in addition to the aforementioned wedding, he dug into fixing up his kid's homestead (kid... ha, ha!). We updated outlets, he fixed plumbing and electrical fixtures and generally spiffed the place up. Best of all, he brought a present for the kittehs!!!

Here's the Opster with one of his bunk mates for the week, Winnie. The spiral stairs he designed for the kittehs and fabricated in Florida is under construction here in B'more!

Here are the completed stairs and kitteh path #1, which runs from the upper rung of the kitteh stair to the human staircase.

Next, the kitteh path meeting the human staircase (yes, all of the kittehs can easily pass through the spindles on the railing).

A kitteh's eye view across the kitteh path to the spiral stairs. The top step of the stairs meets the path (it's a little hard to see in this shot, but the flash just didn't work well in these tight quarters).

Opster tasked me with the finishing touches. I still need to paint the stairs and path (white, to match the trim) and carpet both the path and the stair treads for sure footing. I may install toe molding on the outside of the path to hide the carpeting. I'll post pics of the kittehs on it as soon as I catch them at it with the camera on hand!

Yes, this is just the first path. Opster's plan was to run paths all the way around the living room (ending on the same stair, against the far wall). He likes warm weather so we may be talking May. And he's talking about a passage at kitteh path level, into the den. Guess that means we'll have kitteh paths in the den, too. Always thinking, the Opster said we need to make sure the passage has a door that can be shut for when we have a new resident in quarantine. (Have I mentioned that I really love my Dad's sense of whimsy?)

So, tomorrow updates on all the fosters, here and at Chez Hannah, and back to regular broadcasting!