Cat Quotables-Fat Cats

"Even the fattest cat looks graceful."

~Anonymous

Cat Quotables-A Cat in Gloves

A cat in gloves catches no mice.

~Benjamin Franklin, "Poor Richard's Almanack"

Wordless Wednesday-Where Do You Think You're Going?

Wordless Wednesday-Could Ya Move the Futon Closer to the Window?

Birthday Wrap-Up

I had the BEST day yesterday! It was filled with cuddles, kisses, treats and lots of time with my anipals!

I napped with Dad.

I played with my toys.

I got birthday cards.

And that secret in the bag? Was a catnip plant!

It was the best birthday ever! Thanks for making it special, everybody! Now I need a nap.

I'm 8 Years Old!

Today is my 8th birthday! I realize that I've had seven birthdays before this, but this one is special. It is my first birthday in my forever home with Mom. I know she has something special planned for tonight, but she won't tell me what it is! I think it has something to do with whatever is in this bag.

She went to PetSmart and came back with the bag, but never took the stuff out of it. I'm not supposed to get on the table, so I can't peek in it either.

One thing I do know is that I get to play on Twitter tonight with all of my anipals! Mom said I could tweet as long as I want to. I hope everyone joins me for my birthday pawty on Twitter tonight! I'm even going to bring my sisfur Dottie with me. See you later!

Readpawty Review of Murder Past Due

Murder Past Due by Miranda James is one of the books I read for the upcoming #readpawty on Twitter. It is a cozy mystery written under a pseudonym. The author's real name is Dean James, author of the Simon Kirby-Jones mystery series. For this series, Cat in the Stacks, James took on a female name.

In "Murder Past Due" Charlie Harris is a librarian who takes his cat, a Maine Coon named Diesel, with him everywhere, walking him on a harness and leash. An old classmate, Godfrey Priest, comes back to town to be honored for being a best-selling novelist, but ends up dead-the victim of a brutal murder. Charlie is asked by the lead investigator's mother to poke around for information to help her daughter solve the case. As it turns out, the investigator doesn't really need the help and Charlie (already on her bad side) seems to only irritate her.

The story has several potential killers, all with motives to murder the not-so-nice author. There are a couple of twists, but nothing that is all too surprising. Diesel is ever-present throughout the story, greeting people and hanging out with Charlie.

The most noticeable difference between this cozy and others I have read is that the main character is a man. Typically, the antagonist is a woman in cozies, so this was a change. Also, the main character didn't actually end up solving the crime in this book. It was nice to have things mixed up a bit from other cozies I have read, instead of the same format I have read previously.

If you are a cozy mystery fan, you will probably enjoy the book. I know I did!

Wordless Wednesday-Gimme Gimme Gimme!

Wordless Wednesday-How You Doin'?

Wordless Wednesday-Napping With Dad

Anipal Photo Hunt #4: MY BED

This is the fourth installment of Cokie The Cat's "Anipal Photo Hunt". It's all about "My Bed". Well, I must say, I tend to sleep all over the place. Mom bought me my own bed when she adopted me but I would never sleep in it. Instead, I sleep wherever is most convenient.

If Mom's working, I sleep in her office on the futon.

Once she gets out of bed in the morning, I like to lay in her spot on the bed. Comfy!

When Grandma and Grandpa came to visit, I took a nap on the couch with Grandpa so he wouldn't feel alone.

At night, when it's bed time, I sleep at the end of the bed or right next to Mom. She calls me her cuddle bug! Nothing like a queen size bed to make a kitty happy!

You should join in on the blog hop! What is your bed like?

Wordless Wednesday-Treats!

Anipal Photo Hunt #3: MY FAVORITE TOY

This week's Anipal Photo Hunt is all about my favorite toy. You can see all of my toys behind me in this picture-I have a lot of them! Some of them came with the package Mom bought when she adopted me from Wayside Waifs, some were gifts from Grandma and some Mom got from the pet store-like my Nip Duck!

But the toy I like to play with the most is right between my front paws. It's a simple ponytail holder. Mom has long hair and pulls it back in a ponytail a lot. She has tons of these hair ties all over the place. I discovered what a great plaything one makes when she took her hair down one evening and left the tie on the coffee table. I batted it off the table and all over the floor. What fun it was!

There are times when Mom is gone and I am bored that I go looking for one. She won't let me play with them when she's not watching me, so I have to search around to find where she's left one. Sometimes I can find one on the bathroom counter. Other times I can get up on the counter between the kitchen and living room and find one there. Those are the "JACKPOT" moments! Not only do I get to play with my favorite toy, but I get to go somewhere I'm not allowed to be (according to Mom).

Wordless Wednesday-Dad Moved In So I Have New Stuff To Lay On!

Anipal Photo Hunt: Pawtraits

It's the second week for Cokie The Cat's Anipal Photo Hunt! This week's theme is all about paws. This is what my paws look like when I'm napping.

Wordless Wednesday-On The Phone

I Read a Book for #readpawty!

Recently, I discovered a book club on Twitter. Some of my anipals were talking about #readpawty one evening and what books they had read. Well, my mom likes to read a lot and I thought this this sounded pretty cool so I asked for some more information.

The book club is led by @MaggieTKat. All of the #readpawty information can be found on her bloggy, Kruse Kats. Anipals get together every other month or so on a Tuesday evening and discuss the books that are on the list for that month.

This time, one of the books was "The Cat, The Quilt And The Corpse" by Leann Sweeney. It is the first book in a series called "Cats In Trouble." I picked this book because it had cats in it plus it sounded really exciting. This was a kind of book that neither Mom not I had heard of, called a "cozy mystery." It is the kind of mystery that's not really scary and the crime scene isn't described in a lot of detail, so even the most delicate of kitties (like myself) won't be offended. The person that tries to solve the mystery is a regular person, not a detective.

In this book, the person trying to solve the crime is a very nice lady (she owns three kitties!) named Jillian Hart. She lives in a small town by a lake and comes home one day to find one of her precious kitty cats has gone missing. She knows right away that the kitty has been stolen, but not many people want to believe her. They think she is just overreacting. Then, she finds a man dead-and guess what?-he had a house FULL of kitties! She sets out to figure out what her missing cat (along with other missing cats in the town) have to do with the man's death.

This book was a real claw-biter for a while! Then I was trying to figure out who the killer was and what happened to all the kitties. I got so caught up in trying to solve the mystery that the book was finished in no time! I liked all the people in the book, especially Jillian. She really loved cats and wanted all the kitties back to their rightful owners. How can you not like a human like that? If you want to read a really good book that has cats central to the plot, this is the book to read!
Our next meeting is in October. I think I'm going to read two books this time: "Curiosity Killed the Cat Sitter" by Blaize Clement and "Homer's Odyssey" by Gwen Cooper. Come and join us!

Wordless Wednesday-My Hidey Hole

Microchip

I have great news anipals! Mom had me microchipped this week! She and I feel much better knowing that I have permanent identification if I were to ever get lost. The process wasn't much fun though. She took me to the shelter she adopted me from to get it done. Let me just say that, although everyone was very kind to me while I lived there and during my latest visit, it's not my favorite place to be. Here's how it all went down.

On Wednesday, Mom's regular volunteer day, I noticed some different activity going on at my house. First, Mom got my carrier out, put it on the couch and unzipped it. Next, she put my collar on me (which she doesn't always make me wear because I bite at it and get it caught in my mouth). As soon as the collar was fastened, Mom picked me up and put me in the carrier. "We're going on a little adventure" she said. I wasn't really in the mood for an adventure, but it seemed that I didn't have any choice.

Mom took me to the car, buckled me in and off we went. I stayed quiet for about half of the ride, but I became impatient and decided to let her know by meowing from the back seat. When we finally arrived at our destination, Mom lifted the carrier out with me inside and started to walk toward a building that looked quite familiar. We were at Wayside Waifs! This was my second return visit here, after my dental cleaning, and I wasn't too keen on coming back. Mom took me to the cat adoption area and told me that somebody there wanted to see me. She unzipped the top of my carrier and when I popped my head up I saw my adoption counselor, Sharon! She always talks so sweet to me and pets me. I have to admit, though, I was not on my best behavior. She wanted to hold me, but when Mom tried to pick me up, I hissed at her. Instead, they both walked me back to the vet clinic where I really didn't want to be!

Once inside the clinic, Mom unzipped my carrier and explained to me what was going to happen. She said they were going to put the microchip under my skin and that it would be over before I knew it. A very nice lady reached in and petted me. She was the vet tech, Sarah. She put the microchip in me very gently. It didn't hurt a bit! Mom expressed how proud she was of me for being so brave and Sarah went on and on about how handsome I was. She even said I had gotten more handsome since I was adopted! *blushes*

After they were all done, Mom said I was going to hang out in the clinic while she petted the kitties waiting for their forever homes. I know how important it is for her to do this work, so I didn't mind. They set me up in some cozy digs then asked Mom if I could have a treat. She said yes and before I knew it, I was delivered a bowl of water and a dish of wet food!! Mom doesn't let me eat wet food, so it was quite the special treat for me!

It wasn't long before Mom was done with her volunteer work and came back to get me. It was storming out and raining really hard when we went home, so Mom had to drive extra slow. I, of course, was anxious to get home so the trip seemed to take forever. When we finally got home and I got to come out of my carrier I was very relieved. I'm glad Mom made me go to have the microchip put in though. It just shows how much she really loves me. Big thanks to the Wayside Waifs Vet Clinic. They're pawsome!

Wordless Wednesday-*sigh* Another Picture?