Cassie's finally being honest about it!

Dixie has a weight problem.

Click - it's really funny! Our aunt Elise is a great writer; make sure you scroll past the picture to the poem.

Sorry I disappeared there. First I had my college scholarship, then my Internet went out, and it's been a bit of a mess trying to get it back. But I'm done and here I am again, so give us a few days and we'll post some new stuff.

-L

Photoblog #5 - D'Artagnan is Catman, or, Hello, Memory Card!

My camera went and died on me so I went and sent it out to be fixed about two months back, but I stupidly forgot to remove the memory card and I had to go through ninety million different people to convince them to send it back to me. Actually, they sent it out and then the next day I found out my camera was in the "shipping center" ready to be returned.

But I wanted to share this with you:

Yes, that is D'Artagnan. He is all ready for Halloween!

Cassie says he looks like David Boreanaz, the guy currently playing the FBI agent on Bones. That's a great show, but I don't see it.

Do you?

Moving on...

This is what Cassie calls Dixie Hiccup's professional shot. It's truly not professional. I'm the one one that took it.

I'll post more soon.

-L

The Return of Buster!

**Scroll down three posts for CARNIVAL OF THE CATS**

Buster's back where she belongs.

Post's up, ready to go!

From the Misunderstood Mind of Buster.

-L

Updates

**Scroll down two posts for CARNIVAL OF THE CATS.**

I kind of feel like it's the end of an era here...

No, we're still not sure about the future of Cat Philanthropy, but I still have news to share. I suppose this can be considered good news, but it still feels a bit melancholy.

Buster's humor blog is back as "misunderstood" instead of "misguided" but please give me a day or so to post.

D'Artagnan's new blog is up; a post is already there. It's entirely about his overprotective nature. Feedback on the theme would really be appreciated.

Cocoa Posts! is still up and I will be updating it as soon as I can.

I will make certain I post on Buster's, D'Artagnan's, Cocoa's or all blogs if Cat Philanthropy has to close. If that happens, it will be back, I promise.

Thank you all so much for the support!

Lily

Support Adventures in Cat Philanthropy

(Scroll to next post for Carnival.)
Cassie created this nifty sign for all Cat Philanthropy supporters. She says, "For all of you in the Cat Blogosphere who are friends of Cat Philanthropy, take the badge! Show your support and keep Lily's blog where it is, which is where it rightfully should stay!"

Thank you, Cassie!

Also, thank you to everyone on the Blogosphere who has been so supportive first though the hate mail and now through this! I never thought when I started Cat Philanthropy that I would end up making so many friends, but I have and I am so glad I did. You are a buoying network of support. We still don't have the verdict on whether it's safe enough for my blog to stay, but, regardless of the future of the current blog, Cat Philanthropy is coming back, perhaps not at the same URL or as Adventures in Cat Philanthropy, but we will return, bigger and better than before.

-L

Welcome to the Carnival of the Cats here at Cat Philanthropy!

Er, well, not exactly here.

1. Please, please, turn your speakers on!

2. Follow the order of the posts. They were posted like that for a reason.

3. Click here.

Thank you!

-Lily and the Feline Five

Lots of News

Someone definitely breached Cocoa's account and I was advised to close down the majority of the accounts and the blogs attached to them.

Here's what's going to happen.

1. If you come back at 3 o'clock EST, the CotC will be here. I cannot guarantee it will still be here tomorrow, but it will be here today.

2. Buster's blog will be coming back.

3. Cocoa's blog will be coming back.

4. I may have to close down Adventures in Cat Philanthropy. Don't worry - it's going to come back bigger and stronger. If you can't get in here, check the Cat Blogosphere. I'll post the new web address as soon as I have it.

Please do not email any of the cats right now; their accounts have been deleted. You can email me at lily.felinefive@gmail.com. If the blog is gone, though, it's likely my email will be gone, too. I will post that it's gone on the Blogosphere also.

I really hope you all have enjoyed Cat Philanthropy and will come back to my second blog if I have to close this one down.

Thanks,
Lily Locke

NO! NO! NO! NO!

To everyone who got a comment or a message or an email or anything saything that there was going to be a blog-trashing party here:

THIS IS NOT TRUE!

THIS IS NOT TRUE!

GOOD GRIEF, NO! THIS IS NOT TRUE!

I am not going out of town, I am not going anywhere. I just saw on Shadow's blog a comment that there's going to be a blog trashing party here.

All I can guess is that someone broke into Cocoa's blogger account.

But, to be clear again:

THERE WILL NOT BE A BLOG-TRASHING PARTY AT ADVENTURES IN CAT PHILANTHROPY.

IF YOU GOT A COMMENT, PLEASE EMAIL ME! lily.felinefive@gmail.com.

I need to resolve this ASAP.

Happy Gotcha Day, Dixie Hiccup!

On this day, two years ago, a small, white poof was found in the grass beneath Cassie's family's water meter.

The poof is no longer small; in fact, she's quite large. Now she has a name and a forever family.

Happy Gotcha Day, Dixie!

When I get Cassie's photos of Dixie in party mode, I will definitely post them. Cassie bought her this bedazzly party hat, only it was too heavy for her head, so she substituted a little pink paper candy cup. She looks like a feline genie and she is not a happy cat.

-L

P.S. The Carnival opens tomorrow at 3 PM EST.

Buster's Blog

I have made myself sick from worrying about the carnival and, because school is out and I really don't have anything to throw myself into at the moment, I did another blog, this one for Buster. It's a humor blog.

From the Misguided Mind of Buster.

See it. Read it. Maybe laugh? Just a little? Okay, a smile will do.

-L

NOTE:

If you are planning a visit to Cat Philanthropy late this week before the blog is ready for the Carnival (which should begin about 3:00 EST Sunday), I beg you to wait.

Cat Philanthropy will go through some big changes and I really want it to be a surprise for all the people who come on Sunday, so I may just restrict the blog Saturday and possibly Friday, too. If you come and are blocked out, this is why. I will remove this restriction right before the carnival starts.

And, remember, when you come Sunday, turn your speakers on!

-a very, very nervous L

Updates... Some Incredible, Some Dreadable

(Sorry for the title. I've been babysitting a girl addicted to the poetry of Shel Silverstein.)

Cat Philanthropy is hosting the Carnival of the Cats this Sunday!

This is also the world premiere week (okay, perhaps that's a bit too optimistic - the blogosphere premiere week) of our sister blog (literally) Cocoa Posts! Stop by and say hello to Cocoa avec une Guimauve as she runs amok with her own blog.

I also need a purrayer or two for Dixie Hiccup. When they took her blood at her checkup, her white blood cell count was elevated. He did x-rays and more blood tests, so it's not cancer or anything like that. Our vet says a minor bug is going around so he put her on antibiotics just to be careful and she's going back in sometime next week for another blood test.

Cassie's panicking that it's her fault, that maybe Dixie contracted something from what Cassie's been feeding her (which is not exactly a balanced diet), but I told her that you can't have any regrets or they'll eat you alive. You have to give them the best care you possibly can and, in the end, remember that you did all you possibly could. Cassie knows I don't always practice what I preach; I still have regrets about my sweetheart doggie Tom and I still want to sue the socks off Purina (he died because of kidney failure from their food). At the end of the day, though, that is all you really can do. I told her that Dixie did not get sick because she didn't have a balanced diet. I said that rib meat from the rib place's doggie bag - no pun intended - did not make her sick, but I don't think she believes me...

Anyway, stop back this Sunday and remember to swing by Cocoa's blog!

Cocoa the Klepto

My nightstand is a glass-topped table, where the glass is not attached to the metal base. I woke up this morning at a quarter of five to:

BANG! BANG! BANG! ... BANG! BANG! BANG!

So I sit bolt-upright in bed. In my disorientated semi-sleep state, I'm thinking either the cats - Cassie now calls them my preschool class - are breaking into something or someone's breaking into the house.

I see these glowing green eyes from my left and I look over to see Cocoa avec une Guimauve on my nighstand, hovering over my covered rubber band. As I watch her, too surprised to say anything, she takes the rubber band into her mouth and jumps off the nightstand.

Do you remember that story a couple years ago about that cat that became a kleptomaniac after his owners had their first child? It would go through other people's yards, pick up their toys and stuff, then carry them back to the child's crib? Disgusting, I know, but that cat and Cocoa must share DNA.

Yesterday my pen somehow went missing. On Memorial Day, it was a bunch of little flag candies. Cassie says her cat Dixie gets up on her desk chair to play with pens and little knick-knacks on her desk in the morning, but never takes things, so she can't figure it out. Over Easter, Cocoa consumed a whole Peep on her own - and bounced off the walls for two days - while she hid the row of carefully detached Peep bunnies that were supposed to go on the buffet display, a chicken that gets wound up and clucks, walks, and lays gum "eggs", and one of my cousin's Barbies. We found the wind-up chicken and her clutch spread all through my bed (Coax even tried to chew on one of the eggs to the point that I had to pitch one of my pillowcases because I couldn't get the gum out) and something like all but one of the Peep bunnies, but that Barbie is still MIA. We've found its bunny-ear headband and both shoes, but, as to the rest of its ensemble and the Barbie itself, we've got no clue....

I have Buster, who thinks the party starts and ends with her, Locket, who's just a love and a dear, D'Artagnan, the kindest little sweetheart, and Godiva, the mother hen (no pun intended). Then there's the kleptomaniac, Cocoa.

Anyone else got a klepto as a cat? Anyone?

I AM DONE!!!!!

After the most grueling round of finals in my life, I am done!

I got home yesterday and all five cats seemed to know. D'Artagnan met me at the door and rolled over on his back as if to say, "I know you're done. Pet me!"

So I spent the better part of the evening on the couch with the window open (screen still closed, of course), with all five on me. It hasn't gotten terribly hot here yet and there was a breeze out so it was really nice. Every time the cats heard a bird, they lifted their heads and listened.

Anyway, just thought I'd share the news.

Also, purrs and purrayers for Dixie Hiccup. She's got a routine check-up this week. I'm putting a special clause in my purrayer that the vet convinces Cassie to put Dix on a D-I-E-T. The much-publicized "Princess Chunk" (later "Prince Chunk") has been getting a run for his money lately... She says Dixie is still growing and needs the extra nourishment. I asked her if a 55-year-old is still growing. She said no. I said Dixie really is 55. She said Dixie couldn't possibly be. I drug out my Encyclopedia of the Cat, perhaps the most useful and thoughtful gift from Cassie's brother John, and proved it. I swear she had the same look on her face as she did when she was eleven and John's friend told her the truth about Santa Claus. "You mean," she stuttered, "you mean Dixie Hiccup's no longer a kitten?"

Cassie always says that if her cat Dixie had thumbs, she'd rule the world. One day Cassie said that after she becomes a successful psychologist or anthropologist (it changes by the day), she'll get Dixie hand surgery so she can go off and rule the world. I said that Cocoa avec une Guimauve and Buster Theodora Baddie would go with her. They have that type of personality, too. Cocoa's a little Napoleon and Buster tries to rule the roost.

-L


Mark your calendars: Cat Philanthropy is hosting the Carnival of the Cats on 6/07!

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!