as some of you may know, Daddy does a radio show on a local college radio station. he plays show tunes and sound tracks. the Tony Awards are awards that recognize excellence in Broadway theatre, and are on tv right now. which reminds me about Antoinette, a former foster kitteh here.

two years ago, on Sunday, June 13, 2010, a young kitteh showed up at our back door and applied in purrson to enter Furry Bambino Foster Academy.

of course, we accepted her application. Mom named her Antoinette because it was the day of the Tony Awards, which are named for Antoinette Perry.

initially when Mom saw Antoinette on the back porch, she thought i had gotten out! Antoinette bears a striking resemblance to me. don’t you agree? that’s me on the futon.

Antoinette has a gold flame mark on her forehead.

i don’t have a gold flame mark on my forehead, but Cookie does.

Antoinette was young, approximately 10 months to 18 months old. as we soon found out, ahem, she was strongly desiring a ManCat’s attention. loudly and repeatedly! not to worry, Mom got Antoinette an appointment for her ladygardenectomy just a few days later!

Antoinette was affectionate, but would abruptly swat at Mom and Dad (with claws extended) when she had had enough petting. Mom and Dad were concerned about how they would be able to get Antoinette adopted if she might swat at somebody!

in addition, Antoinette was VERY unhappy to be confined to the kitten room, but she hated all of us Furry Bambinos, so she could not have access to the rest of the house. she meowed out the front window to complain about her plight.

one evening, our next door neighbor and his girlfriend knocked on our door because they could hear Antoinette meowing. Tiger Lily, the girlfriend’s cat, was missing, and they asked if we had found a cat. the next door neighbor was a young big burly guy who worked at a fitness club. mom was worried what he might do about us having his girlfriend’s cat. (well, most of her anyway. heh.)

luckily they were just happy to have their cat back. so, Antoinette graduated from Furry Bambino Foster Academy and was “adopted by” (AKA “returned to”) the next door neighbor on Friday, June 25, 2010.

Post Script from Mom: When I tell this story to most people, they find it hilarious that I accidentally had the neighbor’s cat spayed. However, another volunteer in PAWS one-upped me and said “I spay my neighbors’ cats on purpose! If they let their cats outside and they have not been spayed or neutered, I catch them and have them fixed. They go missing for a day or two and then show back up fixed.”

Our now former neighbor let his house fall into disrepair (let the gutters fall off and left them off for several years as one example), quit paying the mortgage, and the house went into foreclosure. His house has FINALLY been sold at auction at a ridiculously low price, which has lowered the values of all the houses on our street. The house is currently being renovated by the new owner who we suspect will try to flip it.

So, yeah, we are REALLY glad that we got that cat spayed!!!  Would do it again, on purpose.

for today’s post, i want to make it purrfectly clear how i feel about Panda Bear, my biological brofur. this short film sums it up well.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtWaDSwIz00

if it does not play, click here to watch it on our youtube channel.

on the other paw, Padre is my cuddle buddy, and we love each other very much.

i believe that i speak on behalf of the furry bambinos when i say that Panda Bear can be a real PITT (pain in the tocks) sometimes.

as you may know, female tabby (striped) cats with splotches of autumnal coloring (as seen in tortoiseshell cats) are known as “torbies”. both Cookie and i are torbies, and Caramel (Ms. Floofs) is a tortoiseshell. in order to have calico, tortoiseshell, or torbie markings, a cat must have two X chromosomes. so that means that virtually all cats with these colorings are female. there will be a very rare few XXY males that can also have these colors. last year, there was a male calico cat in PAWS! his foster mother was told that only about 1 in 4000 calico cats are male.

enough science, go see my induction page! Cookie has an induction page, and so does Caramel (Ms. Floofs).

TLOA will be having a Halloween party! so we are planning to attend in costume. the male contingent of The Furry Bambinos will also be attending the party in costume. efurryone is welcome, so please join us!

here i am in my witch costume. exactly the look i was aiming for.

Cookie was unhappy about the whole costume thing, and ran around the house moaning and complaining about it. they eventually dressed her as an angel and got a good photo.

Caramel looks absolutely ridiculous in her pumpkin hat.

my boyfriend cat Padre looks absolutely dreamy as Count Dracucat.

my dorky brother Panda Bear really enjoys these photo shoots. here he is dressed as a clown. heh.

and here is Panda Bear dressed as a skeleton.

Sunny is batty, oops, i meant that he is dressed as a bat.

and Sky is an angel.

Happy Halloween, Efurrybuddy!!!

mom says that for every real (not spam) comment on this post that we receive between now and next Sunday May 22, she will make a donation of $0.50 to the Cleveland Animal Protective League (APL). in addition to having a shelter, they also provide low cost apsy/neuter services, and help communities with TNR (trap – neuter – return). last night, mom and dad and a friend from mommy’s work did the T part of TNR and trapped 7 feral cats. dad is taking them to the APL for their hoohaectomies and ladygardenectomies (the N part of TNR).

thanks for visiting! enjoy the festivities! purrs!

even though we had just had an ice storm. see our magnolia tree? it is completely encased in ice.

this is one of the entrances to where mommy works.

see all the ice on these trees? you can click on the photo to biggify.

nope, all that ice did not stop mom and dad from taking us to the v-e-t.  #$%^&*@! cleveland with all its snow and ice removal equipment. even though we live in the “snow belt”, our schools rarely cancel school due to weather. (however, yesterday our schools were closed because we had a blizzard.)

Panda Bear complained the whole way to the v-e-t.

when we got there, we all got weighed. they had to drag us out of our PTU’s.

Padre has lost some weight, and is down to 12.4 pounds (from 13.2 pounds last fall). Panda Bear weighs 13.0 pounds, same as last year. even though a lady is not supposed to reveal her age or her weight, well, i am almost 4 years old and i weigh 9.6 pounds, same as last year. (i guess i am more of a tomboy diva.)

mommy was actually worried that i am too skinny, but Dr. Amy reassured her that i am a healthy, normal sized cat. compared to all the other big kittehs at Casa de Furry Bambinos, i look tiny. when Cookie and Caramel were at the v-e-t a few weeks ago, their weights were 14.0 pounds for Cookie (you read that right) and 10.0 pounds for Caramel. Caramel looks bigger than that, but it’s all floof. Caramel gets so stressed by going to the v-e-t that she actually ::whispers:: pees herself in the PTU. at least none of us did that this time.

this is my boyfriendcat Padre hiding in the PTU. Padre is going to have to have dental surgery on march 31. if you could spare some purrs for Padre, we would appreciate it.

we were examined and got our shots. i yodeled a bit to make them aware of my displeasure. Panda Bear, the dork, was all calm and mellow. Dr. Amy said that when she listens to a cat’s heart rate, it is usually around 220 because we are so anxious. Panda Bear was a mellow 150. he even posed for his picture with Dr. Amy. (i think he has a crush on her.)

to add insult to injury, when we got home, mom left us to go to work, rather than stay at home and hover over us to make sure we did not have reactions to our shots. yeah, dad stayed with us, but there were three of us to observe! Cookie staged a sit-in to protest this injustice.

and then when mommy got home from work, she and daddy dragged two different rug sucking monsters around, moved furniture, and removed all our furs from our cat trees! that stoopid foster kitten Sunny is trying to be all macho and face off against the spot bot monster. doesn’t he realize it could eat him alive?

hello, ASPCA? we want to file a complaint …

and i’m supposed to say that Cookie and Caramel are having a birthday party next week to celebrate their second birthday. which is good, so that all of you can help us replace fur everywhere.

we purrticipated in Secret Paws this year and we received The Meezers as our kittehs to be Secret Paws for. The Meezers wrote about opening our gift on Tuesday. we’re glad they liked the presents! Nicky has been on a nip high for a few days. that’s OK, so have i!!! because …

we got a FANTASTIC package from Samantha, Clementine, and Maverick in Texas! Cookie read the label to see who the package was from. Panda Bear helped to open the box.

Panda Bear helped to take the presents out of the box.

Panda Bear sniffed some primo nip toys inside the stocking and gave the stocking a good bunnykicking.

when Panda Bear was done bunnykicking, Caramel and i joined him to check out all the wonderful gifts.

Padre and Cookie joined Caramel, Panda Bear, and me. i am taking a good long sniff of the stocking stuffed with nip toys!

nip fest! mmmmmmmm nip!

i took a break from my nip fest to look at the pretty card from Samantha, Clementine, and Maverick!

Panda Bear checked out the YUMMY Fancy Feast Appetizers! we ate them and gave them our highest rating: 20 paws up! thank you for the Appetizers!!!

Padre and Panda Bear are checking out the Crunch ‘n Clean treats! mmmmm! yummy! we had never tried these before, but now mommy knows to get these since we liked them so much!

just like a meerkat, i know how to stand on my hind legs! sometimes i hold onto mommy’s hand …

and other times i go paws free! just like a good meerkat!

nip! nip nip nip nip! bunnykicking with a fishy toy this time!

Panda Bear with a package of nip sardines! don’t you love their little smiley faces?

not to be outdone, Floofs (Caramel) shows that she knows how to get her nip on!

Floofs having a nip fest with nip peppermint stick. she looks really high in this photo.

nip fest with bunnykicking to show off her floofy feets and toehawks.

Floofs says don’t touch her nip peppermint stick!

Panda Bear really got into the nip peppermint sticks too!

Panda Bear likes to lick the really primo nip toys. ewww. then nobuddy else wants to touch them.

Padre likes the nip sardines.

Padre also likes the jingle balls!

Cookie is posing with the nip toys!

check out this neato toy mousie!

Cookie made friends with the toy mousie. they are shaking paws here.

Cookie and the toy mousie are having a conversation.

i don’t think the toy mousie wants to be friends with Cookie any more.

check out the great calendar! do you see the resemblance between Cookie and the cover kitteh?

ahhhh! relaxing in the debris field! you can also see the great tablet! it has a magnet so it is going on the fridge. i will see to it that it is used for catfood shopping lists!

Thank You, Secret Paws!!! Thank You Samantha! Thank You Clementine! Thank You Maverick!

And a Special Thank You to Sweet Praline for organizing Secret Paws this year!

happy new year, efurryone!  (remember, if you nip, don’t drive.)

well, they made us to dress up in dumb costumes again this year.

and then they took photos!

lot of photos.

like this one of Padre dressed as a cowboy.

caramel really got screwed and had to wear three pieces to her costume.  heh.  serves that little floofy princess right.

cookie really protested about getting her photo taken, so she fled to the basement, still wearing her costume.

i am not sure what she was dressed as, other than an unhappy cat.

panda bear had to wear a pirate’s hat.  the dork really seemed to enjoy it, playing up on his one eye and all.

:: smugly ::   i got to wear a she-devil costume.

then, they turned the photos into a halloween card, and sent it to all their friends.

when mommy’s friend Dorothy got the card, she told Mommy:

I am surprised that by the look on Meerkat’s face, you and David were not turned into pillars of salt!

heh.  just the look i was going for.

if you would like your very own copy of the card, send us your snail mail address.  our email address is TheFurryBambinos AT gmail DOT com.   you can use our contact page if you want.

we can even send the card overseas too!

Happy Halloween, Efurrybody!

in other news, mommy is taking a class where she is learning html.  she’s not smart like us furry bambinos, who already know all about html. mommy says that she likes her class a lot!  it is through the community college in our area. and daddy is very happy that mommy is taking the class, so she can stop bugging him with lotsa stoopid questions.

tonight, mom learned about a href tags.  like, duh!

since so many of you said that you liked the last cartoon i put on the blog, here is another cartoon that you might like. remember to hover your mouse over the cartoon for additional commentary by the author.

BOOK BURNING

xkcd.com

did you read the hover-text? seriously, go back and read it.

now, you will be able to appreciate this:

How Will The End Of Print Journalism Affect Old Loons Who Hoard Newspapers?

ha ha ha ha ha! wasn’t that funny? aunt patty sent this to mom. aunt patty majored in print journalism when she was in college. both mom and aunt patty have a tendency to have lotsa newspapers around. do your parents have lotsa newspapers lying around?

here’s an example.  mom came up to me this morning and said “Meerkat!”

like, duh.

“Little girl!”  said dad.  um, yeah, i am a female feline.  and yes, i am petite.  sigh.

there is actually a great cartoon that summarizes this for all of us kittehs. (be sure to hover your mouse over the cartoon for additional commentary by the author.)

CAT PROXIMITY

xkcd.com

unfortunately, mom saw this cartoon.  then she showed it to dad.

instead of taking the hint, and speaking to us like the intelligent beings that we are, now mom and dad are walking up to us kittehs, and saying (you guessed it):

“You’re a kitty!”

sigh.

do your humans also have this vocabulary problem when near you?

the flowers are bloomifying, and it’s warm enough to have windows and screen door open so we can sniff the fresh air!

just last week on thursday, it snowed! but then last friday was sunny and warm, so most of the snow meltified …

… except where there was too much shade, like along the tall fence.

but now, all the snow is gone, and it has been so warm that we actually set new records for the high temperature! it was 82 degrees F on thursday, and 86 degrees F on friday.

these temperatures are more typical of august, not april. normal highs here for this time of year are in the low 50’s, and it can snow here in april, like it did a few years ago on easter weekend.

to celebrate, here are some photos of spring from our garden. crocuses are one of the first things to bloom, so Mom loves them, which is why she plants so many.

these are yellow crocuses:

lavender crocuses:

white crocuses:

purple crocuses:

Mom says the best thing about living where the winters are so harsh is really appreciating spring! Mom is glad that we live where we can plant bulbs in the fall. when she plants them, she says “good night until spring” to the bulbs as she puts them into the ground.

mom and dad call this flower bed daffodil hill. (it’s not really a hill, just a raised flower bed.) it’s a reference to the famous Daffodil Hill in Lake View Cemetery.

more daffodils:

these are called blue hyacinths:

these are white hyacinths. Mom says they have the strongest scent of the different colors of hyacinths, which is why she likes the white ones.

* * *

it also seems appropriate to mention that our friend Monty from Monty Graycat Ponders Out Loud gave us this fabulous award: The Sunshine Award! Thank You Monty!  we are so humbled!

the rules for this award are: to accept this award you must pass it on to 12 other recipients and post their blog links along with the award and of course send a comment to them telling them how they have brought SUNSHINE to you.  we thought we would give it to six bloggers, in order to leave some others out there eligible to receive it.

1) It’s All Good

2) Fin

3) Tristan & Crikey

4) Cat Sitter in the City

5) Darling Millie

6) Momo

* * *

In other news, Cookie is entered into Misha’s Kitty Fight Club! She is competing on April 22! Please visit Misha’s blog to read more about it!  And please consider voting for Cookie!