Welcoming in Samhain!

Greetings, my friends! I hope everyone had a wonderful Mabon! I enjoyed a very Blessed and memorable celebration with my long-time and forever dear friends ...

Posing for a quick pic after ritual: Me, Rhiannon, Draco, & Page

Blessed Be!

And now, it's on to the preparations for Samhain ~ beginning with adorning the house with symbols of the season and, later on, preparing my sacred altar for ritual ...

 

 

Here's wishing all a terrific Sunday!!

What would Jackson Galaxy do?

Okay, in case you do not follow my other blog, The Wiccan Life, I have been having a bit of an issue with our two female cats marking their territory  all over our good couch since we took in our temporary guest, Niecy, for my friend while her family is on vacation until next Saturday!

Now first of all, our girls are already spayed, so that isn't in the least bit a problem. Not to mention that we cat-sat for this particular kitty last year without incident.

Females. What a real pain in the ass these girls can be! I guess my hubby and I were extremely fortunate in the past as we had two beauitfull, well-behaved, non-territorial females who NEVER pulled this crap ~  not even after we took in our black and white male tuxedo cat, Mr. Bojangles, as a kitten!

Okay Jackson, what would you do other than perhaps tell us to never take in another female cat unless they were either:

A.  an only house cat or,
B.  Litter siblings

Needless to say, we have washed the couch cushions and their covers (twice) and saturated everything with "Urine Gone" and "Nature's Miracle's Orange Oxy Power" spray. Not too sure about the Orange Oxy yet, but the Urine Gone may as well be plain old water as it has done absolutely nothing to deter them


I tell you, gimme a neutered male cat (or 5) any day of the week! LOL! As for Niecy, she is just chilling and is as calm and relaxed as can be in a strange house around strange cats.

Hmmm, maybe I can trade one of my females in for this little sweetheart, eh? ...

Crazy Cat Lady

I honestly can't tell you how many times my friends have teased me about my love for cats and have very kiddingly, mind you, referred to me as a Crazy Cat Lady. Adding that they can see me as being known as the "old crazy cat lady of the neighborhood"!

To this, I always reply, "Well, I have been called much worse, you know!" But truthfully, it would be a title which I, myself, would wear very proudly with honor as I simply and earnestly adore cats!!!

I suppose you could say that it is in my blood. After all, my grandmother took in every stray thing she could find until the day she died and both my parents are complete and total animal lovers!!  The funny thing is, I actually wasn't brought up around cats as my mom was always more of a dog person. I guess you might say that I turned her into a cat lover now as she has always been attached to my own kitties.  She even feeds (and protects like a mommy lion) this stray cat which is hanging around my parents house lately and she is trying her hardest to make a house cat out of her. LOL!!!

What's even cooler is that my hubby is just as nuts about cats as me ~ no seriously he is! So, I guess someday we will both be known as the "crazy cat people" down the street!

"My Cat From Hell"

Has anyone ever seen the Animal Planet series, "My Cat From Hell" hosted by Jackson Galaxy? Jackson is "a musician by night and a Cat Behaviorist by day."

I can't help but to love this show! Not only do I find it educational as far as cat behavior is concerned, but I think it is so fascinating how Jackson is able to "re-adjust" the cat guardian's behavior and attitude as well in cases where it is the "human" behaviour which is causing a majority of the cat bahavioral issues in the household.

Not to say, that is, that my kitty cats behavior is purrfect all of the time. but some of the cat problems I have seen this guy deal with is completely beyond anything I had ever imagined as a cat owner/mom.

The thing I love the most about this show; however, is how beautifully Jackson handles both the cats and their people. It is so wonderful to hear about all the success stories of people who loved their animals so much that they would do anything to keep them rather than give them up.

"My Cat From Hell" deals with the extreme cases where cat owners have reached the point where they have tried everything and Jackson was their last hope! Not only is Jackson extremely knowledgable about cats, but he is very educated when it comes to various cat breeds as well. The genuine love and affection he has for these cats is heart-warming and it shows.  I can't help but to share in his joy while watching him.

Jackson Galaxy has written a book called, "Cat Daddy" and I can not wait to read it after which I will write a book review for this blog.  Have a fantastic day everyone!!!

A funny little story ...

If any of you have been following my other blog, "The Wiccan Life," you know that my hubby and I are attempting to rescue a little black stray kitty who has been hanging around our yard and whom we have been feeding on a nightly basis for about three weeks now.

We decided to try to catch him with our Have-A-Heart trap in order to bring him (or her for that matter) in out of the bone-chilling winter weather and, Goddess-willing, give him a really good home.

Last night my hubby cracked the garage door open a tad so that he could set up the trap and feed the cat. From our garage door window in the kitchen, he saw something which looked very much (from our angle atleast) like the tail and butt of a black cat. So he runs over to me, tells me to look (and this DID look like the tail-end of a cat, mind you) and for the next twenty minutes or so, we  sat around trying to decide whether we should try to approach him without scaring him away as he "seemed" to be just standing behind the garage door not moving and trying to get out of the cold wind.

I finally decided to quietly open the inside kitchen door and it was then that I realized that what we were seeing was not a cat at all ~ it was actually a black snow shovel which was standing upright along the wall!  Duh, right? LOL!!!!

Anyway, no kitty as of this morning, so we will patiently wait in hopes of catching this fella!!!

HAVE A BLESSED THANKSGIVING!!

Wishing everyone a very

 Happy

 Thanksgiving

 and may you enjoy your time with family

 and friends!!! :D

Winnie's First Sabbat

 Here are Pictures and a mini video of Winnie attending his first Sabbat in December 2010

Midnight's Story ...

Let's see, where do I begin? Well, upon one winter's morning, approximately two years ago, my husband received a phone call from his boss that the Have-A-Heart trap that he set at work the night before in an attempt to rescue a beautiful ebony cat who had been up until that time living out of the neigborhood trash cans to survive, had a cat in it who was waiting to be picked up and brought home.

When my hubby walked though our door, I saw this poor, terrified little kitty cat who was too scared to even move, looking at me as if to say, "Help me please ~ you gotta let me out of here and please don't hurt me, pleeease!" We had an enclosed porch in which we temporarily kept him in so that he could not only have privacy, but would also feel safe while allowing him to gradually get used to his new surroundings. Not to mention the fact that since we already had two inside cats we needed to keep him separated from them until we could get him to his vet appointment for a Fel-Luk test, blood work, shots, etc.

After all that, we finally brought him inside with the rest of us to get acquainted with our other two cats. None, and I mean NONE of our cats are allowed outside ever! The risks are far too great and I am far too protective of a 'Cat Mom" to allow anything or anyone to hurt my fur babies.

He adjusted beautifully! It was as if he had been living with us all along. The other two are females and he simply adores them! We think he is a British Shorthair or at the very least a Brit mix. His physical characteristics and his disposition match purrfectly. Even though cats are for the most part independent, every breed has their own set of idiosyncrasies or habits that are uniquely theirs. British Shorthairs are known for being very loyal and quite affectionate (especially the males) and they will follow you from room to room until they or you sit down and relax somewhere. They also have rather short legs and stand low to the ground which makes them very uncomfortable being picked up or held. They are not known for being very talkative either, in fact, it is rare that you will hear them "speak" at all. ALL of these things are true of our cat Midnight.

Midnight loves to sit near me while I am on the computer

He also gets along wonferfully with our dwarf bunny, Sam, and will often keep him company by lying aside of his cage for a half hour or so at a time. Getting along well with other family pets is also a part of the Brit's personality. Also, they much prefer the company of adults to children as they are pretty laid back and enjoy the peace and quiet in their enviornment, often hiding whenever you have company visiting the house. They usually only bond with those whom "they" consider family.

One of the things I love the most about Midnight is his nightly routine of jumping on my, I mean "his." pillow and plopping himself right on my head while purring me to sleep. Of all the wonderful cats who have blessed our home over the years, he is undoubtedly the sweetest and most loving so far we have ever had. We just love him to death!!