Sunday Morning Pancakes

Roque's special Sunday Morning Breakfast.

Roque enjoying her special Sunday Morning Breakfast.

I really don't understand why people tell me that my babies are spoiled. It isn't like Roque wakes up to pancakes every morning. Just on special occasions.

Purrrrrrrrrrrr

Here are a couple of interesting things about how our fur balls purr....

• Gus- For the first couple of months after we found Gus, he would purr when he ate. Tells you something about how hungry the poor guy must have been when we found him. Now the purrs are not as frequent and he no longer does it when he is eating. Typically we only hear them when he is curled up and ready to go to sleep.
• Zander- He can't purr. He has his own rendition of the purr that Nick and I have called Zurring. Zander doesn't purr, he zurrs. The best way I can describe it is very similar to a snore but with a cold thrown into the mix.
  
• DJ- He has the best purr ever. He is so loud and he purrs all the time. You can actually say something to DJ when he is sitting across the room and start walking towards him, and he will start to purr. It is so loud and he likes to head butt you while he is purring.
  
• Roque- Doesn't purr.
  

Happy Gus Day!!

Then

Now

Today is Happy Gus Day! Two years ago (in a few more hours) Nick and I were crouched down in front of a vacant house trying to coax a stray kitten out from under a porch. To fully appreciate how momentous an occasion Happy Gus Day is, I should start at the beginning.

Day 1 - August 18, 2007
Nick and I were walking Roque out near a pretty main road. As we were walking, I heard the very distinct cry of a kitten. We walked towards the sound to see if we could find the source of the cry. We live in townhouses that are all connected and unfortunately, all the houses have porches and the kitten could move quite easily from house to house without being detected by people.

Day 2 - August 19, 2007
Again walking the dog...heard the kitten (around the same place as the night before), couldn't find the kitten. Came back to the house worried about the kitten.

Day 3 - August 20, 2007
Walking Roque, didn't hear the kitten where we have heard it each night before. Round the corner and here the kitten again. Nick takes Roque home so the 70 pound dog doesn't scare the little guy and comes back out to help me find the precious one. We search for quite a bit and walk through quite a few spider webs. Then I got my first glimpse of the kitten. He was orange and white. I announce this information to Nick and he immediately realizes that this means that this kitten will be eventually coming home with us. I have been telling Nick for quite sometime that I wanted an orange cat. However, tonight would not be the night the kitten comes home with me. He got scared of us and ran under another house and then we lost him. I went home and came back out with some food for the little guy. I put it where we last saw him and hoped he would come back and find it.

Day 4 - August 21, 2007
Hear the kitten again, tried to catch him, gosh they are fast, still no luck, put out more food.

Day 5 - August 22, 2007
Nick leaves for Northern Virginia for a few nights. Walk the dog myself. Call Nick crying because I can no longer hear the kitten crying and I am convinced that something bad has happened to him.

Day 6 - August 23, 2007
I enlisted the help of my wonderful neighbor, GI Joe. His name isn't Joe but he is in the army and actually sets up surveillence cameras to catch graffati artists, so we dubbed him GI Joe. Super cool neighbor! He helps. We walk around and spot the kitten under a back porch. He crawls under the house. GI Joe and I set out a trap and wait for the kitten to come out. Meanwhile, the neighbors of the house come home and scare the kitten out and we lose him again.

I call Nick crying for the second night in a row. Poor scared kitten.

Day 7 - August 24, 2007
Nick comes home from Northern Virginia. Yay. Super tired after a long weekend of classes but still went to a friends party with me. Such a good guy. Driving home from the party and guess what runs out in the road. The little orange and white kitten. I jump out of the car before it had even come to a complete stop. I didn't even have shoes on. Yuck! If you knew where we lived, you would understand this is not something you should do. Trapped the little kitten under the porch of a vacant house. Sat there for 2 hours with the kitten. I could get him to eat out of my hand, but everytime I would go to grab him, he would jump off the ledge. Finally, Nick looked like he wasn't going to last much longer, so we realized we had to do something to get him out. I suggested he start throwing some mulch at him. Nick throws a piece. Nothing happens. He throws another piece and hits him right between the eyes. The kitten runs out and down the little alley between two houses. Nick takes off after him and must have run right past him. I get around to the same side and shine the flashlight down the alley in time to see the kitten running right at Nick. Nick, with his quick hands (thanks to college football) scoops the kitten up. Then the kitten bites him. Ouch. I am sure that the little kitten doesn't have any diseases or anything (I hope). Then he comes home to live with us.

When Gus came home he weighed barely 1 pound. Now that little orange and white kitten weighs in at 14 pounds. You will be happy to know that Nick did not catch any horrible disease from the bite either.

So after all that trouble, you can see why we celebrate Happy Gus Day!

And how did Gus celebrate Happy Gus Day? With Baked Doritos!

Puppies!!!

Unfortunately these puppies will not be coming home with me. Luckily, one (maybe two if I can do some persuasive talking) will be coming home to live with my in-laws. My father in-law, the hubs and myself got to go meet the puppies today. Nick's dad can choose between two girls and two boys. I think the best option would be one of each. These are the precious little Scotties. I am glad that I don't have to make the decision because they would all be coming home with me. These guys are 6 weeks old and they will be coming home in another 6 to 8 weeks. Can't wait to puppy sit. I will keep you posted on which puppy will be super blessed with a wonderful home with my in-laws.

Just cuz

We are a pizza lovin' family. All of us!

Stop and Smell the Roses

Gus loves flowers and plants. Most of the time he just smells, but sometimes he does try to eat them. These particular flowers were for my in-laws 40th Anniversary Party this past Sunday. We thought we stuck the plants somewhere high and out of reach of the fur balls. We did not take into consideration just how determined Gus would be to smell the wonderful aromas. Luckily, the flowers made it to the party unharmed.

Upper Management

We often call Zander "Upper Management" because he likes to find a high perch and supervise his staff. The picture above is Zander watching me while I make some ham salad. He needed to be sure that the food was up to his high standards. I think it passed the test. We really do try to keep the cats off the counter, but as you can see, it doesn't always work.

Take Me With You

Gus helping us pack for our trip.

The Hubs and I went away this past weekend and I can't avoid the guilty feelings I have about leaving my babies at home alone. Nick always makes fun of me for the amount of food and extra water bowls I leave out for them while we were gone. We have an extensive routine to kitty proof the house while we are gone and even though we were only gone one night, I still worried about them. We always buy them a new toy to play with while we are gone. Maybe then they will not realize they have been abandoned.

So the three boys were "roughing it" at the house while Roque had to be boarded. I think the boys handle it much better than Roque. Nick took Roque on Saturday morning. I prefer not to go if I don't have to. I say my goodbyes to her while she is still excited about getting to ride in a car. I don't want to say goodbye to her while they are dragging her across the floor at the Vet's office. Needless to say she was quite excited to see us when we picked her up on Sunday. She has been getting spoiled nonstop since our return. She just got some ham slices. Don't tell our Vet as he has already reprimanded us for her weight.

Can you imagine how bad I am going to be when I have to leave our kids with someone else if I am like this with my pets? It will probably be impossible for us to find a babysitter!