Yet Another Nap

Just taking a nap on my sister's butt .............  No big

Kitty face!

Dawwwwwww lookit my cute boy!!!!  Who can resist that face?!!???

Precious creatures

Last week I got a letter from PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals), which talked about things going on in China involving domestic animals and the fur trade.  I couldn't even read it, I can't handle those things; just glancing at it made me upset.  I'm one of those people that can watch violent movies about humans, but the moment anybody lays a finger on an animal I flip out.  It just affects me so viscerally.  I will never understand how any person can inflict pain or cruelty on an animal.  All creatures are precious, and all deserve kindness.

I sent PETA a check for their current campaign.  And then I went and held my babies so close they were wriggling to be free.  I've been particularly clingy with them this week, patting them every chance I get.  We're so lucky to have them, so lucky that they rescued us.  We know we can't adopt every animal that needs a home (that wouldn't be suitable for us or them), but we're so glad that places like King Street Cats are doing the loving, tireless work to make a difference, one furry life at a time.

Synchro cute

I'm getting better at capturing them both looking at the camera.  This was after I had been doing school work for hours and they were hoping I would get up and play with them...

No air conditioning

The air conditioning in our apartment was out for about 12 hours, and boy did the cats make a showing of their displeasure... stretching out on the floor and hoping to guilt us into making the cool air work again...

Blue afghan

Simon likes curling up on the afghan my mom made for me... he also like holding his own back paws, you know, just in case they try to wander away while he's sleeping.

Treeeeeeeeeats?

This is what I see every time I open any drawer in the kitchen, because they think it just MIGHT be the sound of the treat drawer.  They come scampering over and look ridiculously cute, hoping for culinary rewards...

Look at River's eyes... it's like she's trying to laser through the bag of treats.
And you can see Simon's cute little turned-out front paws when he stands. Dawww!

I love Simon's big-brother expression here.  He's probably telling her to look cuter so they can get more crunchies...

Life is soooooo tough....

Good life part 2

This cat also has an excellent life.

Purrrrrrrrrrrrrr...

Good life

This cat has a very, very good life.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...

Go work bad!! Stay and cuddle!!!

Mid-June cuteness

A few pictures from the past week:

Simon snuggling with Sarah

Haaaaaaaaaappy kitty!

Simon likes Sarah's skirt!!

River likes my new studying setup on the soft, fleecy blanket...

Tales from housesitting

Two weekends ago, we were in Rochester for a wedding.  Our lovely friends Erika and Steve took care of the babies while we were away, and Erika texted me this picture on Saturday night with the caption "we're still alive!"

This past weekend we were in Vermont for another wedding, and this time my classmate Claire looked in on the kittehs.  She texted me these two pictures of Simon playing with the fake bird:

Yay for housesitters who spontaneously send us pictures of our babies when we miss them!!

Side by side babies!

Sleeping so sweetly :)

Trick for your treat

This has been an ongoing project since March, and I just now finally got the videos together.  We've taught the babies to stand up in order to earn their daily treats! 

It really wasn't hard, they quickly figured out that we wanted them to get up on their hind paws to reach the treats/  The tough part was teaching them to NOT swipe at our hands with their claws!

Attacking our feet

The kitties have been playing this game since we brought them home; they jump on the bed with us, then attack our feet through the comforter when we move.  :-)

Solar power

I'm really starting to think that River is solar-powered...

Back of chair

Simon loves climbing the backs of our kitchen chairs (his claws let him be "velcro kitty" on the upholstery).  Here he is hoping that Sarah will share her lunch with him...

Slew of photos

So my sister got me an iPad for my graduation, which means there is yet ANOTHER device that holds kitty photos and videos!  I finally figured out how to get the photos off the iPad, so here are some from the last few weeks:

Love Simon's little pink tongue!!

River sitting like a queen...

Simon perched my lap (with auntie Rosie in the background)

River sleeping in the window on her cushion

Simon enjoying the comforter that was on the futon while we had guests

Meal time

This is a snapshot of the approximately four minutes per day when they are quiet...

Simon ate WHAT?!

Is it motherhood when you simultaneously love your baby and want to strangle them?!

So two weeks ago Tuesday morning (May 22nd), my dad and sister were heading home so we were all getting ready to drive to the airport.  I noticed this white, string-looking thing on the floor of the hallway:

Upon closer inspection, I notice it's made of plastic and has silver and copper wires in it.  Wires?  This looks like part of an iPod earphone cord...

OH NO.

I go to the den, where the day before I had emptied my purse onto the floor. The pile of stuff includes my earphones, except now they look like this:

GAAAAAAAAAH!!

Simon ATE the left earphone, plus about six inches of the cord (some of which was the remnant I found in the hallway).  I couldn't believe it!! 

I called the vet, and they recommended getting an x-ray just to be sure nothing was blocking his gut (and to be sure it was really him!).  So we hauled both cats in, and $300 later we got confirmation that yes, Simon was the culprit, and the wires had already moved through his intestines pretty well.  The vet said to just watch him, don't feed him dinner that night, and "if you see wires sticking out of his butt, don't pull them."   !!!!!!

He didn't show any signs of feeling strange, both cats were playing and doing their usual thing.  For the next few days, I kept an extra-close eye on the litter box to be sure everything passed through (which it eventually did).

The other fun new thing I discovered, while inspecting the litter box, was that Simon has also been eating our hair elastics (and apparently passing them without issue).

GAH.  Nothing in this apartment is safe from the Jaws of Simon!