News

Sorry for not posting in... good grief, it's been two weeks!

I guess I have a good excuse, though. My college class ends in two weeks and I had a final paper due and finals next week. Regular high school classes end the week after, so I apologize in advance if I don't post for a bit, as I've got finals, papers, and all that good stuff.

Anyway, lots has happened since Easter.

That Monday I got stupendous news: I am an Honors Scholar at my school, which means I am an all-Honors/AP student with a 95 or above in each class. I've been an Honors Scholar for four straight semesters now!

Wednesday brought equally good news. In early March I applied for a Detweiler Scholarship, which pays for a college class in the humanities over the summer. Detweilers are reserved for students who've been Honors Scholars for at least two consecutive semesters. My guidance counselor told me that I had been selected for a course!

It's funny how, for the briefest moment, you think everything's going right, then, crash, you fall flat.

That's kind of what happened to me. Literally.

Friday night, Cassie's brother John came over because it's no fun to watch the Bourne Ultimatum alone (Cassie refuses to watch). John's name is literally John Locke and he thinks it's funny that I named one of my cats that. It's nice when he's around because he can lug three 28-pound jugs of cat litter at once.

This might be a good time to mention that D'Artagnan has taken to following me around with his tail wrapped around my ankle.

Girl + stairs + tail of invisible cat = ?

That's right. A sprained ankle.

And so I'm laying there, sprawled at the bottom of the stairs, staring at the ceiling (this was before the pain actually kicked in) and I hear tripping and scuffling and "Move, Buster!" And D'Artagnan is licking me, crying aloud, which I didn't know he was capable of. He sounds like a squeaky recorder.

Then the other four cats descend on me, demanding noisily to know what all the commotion was about.
When I actually get around to sitting up, which John wouldn't let me do until I'd shown him I hadn't broken my neck, I looked down and saw this giant purple goose egg on the side of my ankle. I should have known that when it didn't hurt and all the rest of me did that it was going to be trouble...

In other news, a brown squirrel has taken up residence in the tree behind the house. He sits up on his hind legs and makes funny noises at Cocoa through the window. I think he thinks because she's so small she's a squirrel, too. Cassie named him Chipmonkey and Cocoa's started chittering at him. (Thank you so much for explaining chittering! I was so worried it would be something bad!)

Well, back to studying...

-L

D'Artagnan's First Post, or, the Friendly Award

Hello, my name is D'Artagnan de Chat Noir and I am Lily's favorite. She asked me to do the post for the next award, as she's busy trying to hide the Peeps for her cousins' Easter baskets.

Thank you so much, Karen Jo, for sending us this fantastic award! Lily helped me link it back to Elin, just like you asked, so click on the award to go to Elin's website.

Cocoa asked - no, demanded - that we give the award to Luxor. That's fine, but Lily also said I could pick my own recipient. To you, Daisy, even though I know you'll always be Skeezix's.

-D'Artagnan de Chat Noir, "All for one and one for all!"

P.S. Hi, Betty! Lily saw your site. She says computers are her sixth love - after us cats, of course!

Happy Easter from Cat Philanthropy!

It's the Feline Five's first Easter!

Every year, Cassie's family comes over and spends Easter with us. We do the classic Paas decorating traditions every Saturday night, but this year Cassie brought this kit that has little sponges in the shapes of bunnies and flowers, with glitter and sparkles and everything.

It will be very interesting to see how the Feline Five act towards the egg decorating and everything. We'll make eggs for all the cats and I've decided we'll do a little treat hunt around the living room, but holidays are still a source of bewilderment for them. Cocoa and Godiva were the only two to actually see the Christmas tree; they were perplexed.

Anyway, Easter came early when I saw the lovely badges the M-Cats Club did for Locket and D'Artagnan. Thank you so much!

I leave you with Cocoa avec une Guimauve playing with the infamous jelly bean. This is her fourth or fifth one. She will only play with the green ones and she'll only play with them on the stairs.

Happy Easter!

Catchup Posts

For a period of a couple of weeks last month, after I got sick with strep, I had Cassie moderating all my comments (see here for reason) because my email was giving me problems and when I went to change it back I did it wrong and we ended up with a big mess, so I never actually saw some of the comments from a few weeks ago. I was going back and sorting through all the comments and I found these awards. I'll be posting them over the next couple of days, oldest to newest, as for some reason my computer keeps timing out my Internet connection if I add more than one image.

My apologies to the Cats of Wildcat Woods and thank you so much for the award!

Okay, so I'm supposed to list six things that make the Feline Five happy and six blogs to recieve this award...

Because I've got five, I'll list a favorite thing for each cat and the sixth can go to Cassie's cat Dixie Hiccup.

1. Cocoa avec une Guimauve's favorite thing: carrying covered rubber bands around the house.
2. Godiva's favorite thing: napping in the sun.
3. Buster's favorite thing: the laser mouse!
4. Locket's favorite thing: playing with Cocoa.
5. D'Artagnan's favorite thing: sleeping on my lap.
6. Dixie Hiccup's favorite thing: sleeping on the end of Cassie's bed.

And the six blogs are:

1. Kitty Limericks
2. A Wizard and an Angel
3. Katiez Furry Mewz!
4. Tom, Official Office Cat
5. Life From A Cat's Perspective
6. Jan's Funny Farm

-L

Terror Past Dusk

On Saturday night, my mother went to dinner with my aunt and my uncle. They live a few hours away from us and so when they come, rather than leave their three boys with a sitter and worry, they leave them with me. Cassie comes over sometimes, but they love the cats so much they usually behave pretty well.

Well, they'd gone out to dinner and I expected them back maybe at midnight. Cassie and I enticed the boys to sleep through building a tent of sheets. All the cats were thrilled at the change of scenery and we ended up burrowed under a mountain of blankets in the family room. You could hardly step anywhere for fear of stepping on a boy or a cat.

The littlest boy, Jordan, in first grade, had Cocoa, who really was just his size. Alex, the middle child, nine, had Locket. James, 11, had Buster. I had D'Artagnan and Cassie ended up with Jordan, because he was scared and wanted to hold her hand.

Anyway, it wasn't even midnight and we were all asleep when all of a sudden D'Artagnan jumps on top of me and starts kneading my shoulder. It hurt like heck and, needless to say, it woke me wide awake.

"Stop," I whispered. "Stop, D'Ar!"

That was when I heard it.

Something in the kitchen fell with a crash. I sat up immediately and D'Ar jumped off me as if to say, Finally!

I am not one of those people who knows karate or anything. In a fight, I might win because, as a few elementary fights taught me, I'm scrappy and determined, but other than that, I don't have any special skills. I also have an overactive mind that was rapidly churning out facts that I didn't want to digest.

The odds were: two teenage girls, three boys, and five cats against at least one person carrying Lord-knows-what.

James sat up too and whispered, "Don't worry, Lily. I have a green belt!"

Great. So we've got two teenage girls, two boys with no martial arts experience, and an eleven-year-old with a green belt. Oh, also five cats.

I looked for the phone. It was on the tv cabinet across the room.

I shook Cassie until she woke up. "What?" she demanded.

"There's someone in the kitchen!"

She sighed. Cassie thinks I panic too often.

We heard something crinkling, like a plastic bag only stiffer. Cassie froze, her eyes huge. "Oh...my...gosh."

By now the other two boys had woken up.

Jordan was clutching Cocoa so tight her eyes were bugging out of her head. James reached over to free her. "This is not funny, Lily! This is a joke, right?" Jordan whimpered.

"It's okay," James said. "Lily and Cassie will figure out what to do."

"We need the phone," I whispered.

"I-I'll get it," James offered. "I mean, I do have a green belt."

"It's a nice offer, James, but your mother would kill me if I let anything happen to you," I said. I looked at Cassie. "Cass, watch them."

I crawled out of the tent and moved slowly towards the door. D'Artagnan kept a half-beat ahead of me.

The wall the cabinet sits on is also the wall of the kitchen and the phone sat on the edge closest to the doorframe. I crept up carefully, listening fiercely. I heard nothing... except for a strange crunching noise.

I grabbed the phone, but then something occured to me and I forced myself to peer around the corner into the kitchen.

The dry food bag had fallen on its side and there was a slender ringed tail switching from side to side in the opening.

Buster Baddie. The criminal mastermind.

Happy April Fool's Day from all of us here at Cat Philanthropy!

-L