A Late Foster Friday: Chattering Ruby

Did you know that cats chatter?  I had never heard of this until recently.  None of my childhood cats, ever did this.  In case you are wondering what chatter is, well, it is essentially chatter/chirp sounds cats make when they are "hunting." My cats make this noise when seeing a bug outside, or like Ruby, whenever they see their favorite toy.

As soon as I take out "da bird" I am suddenly the center of attention for all of the cats.

Daisy will whine, Ruby will chatter, Cybelle looks at it eagerly, and Phoenix just...lays there.

Here is a recent video of Ruby chattering, and my other cats.

Isn't the chattering, the cutest thing?  She instantly makes this sound, it's so cute.  Don't worry, she didn't chatter for too long.  I let her play with "da bird" plenty.  She was able to chase and nibble on it, plenty. 

Ruby is up for adoption at Friends of Homeless Animals. 

Foster Friday: Grooming Session

Ruby and Daisy have been doing well.  We switched their wet food, and now only Ruby likes it (they are eat Science Diet now).  It's not a big deal, as Daisy hardly ate any wet food to begin with.  However, Ruby is adjusting very well to it.

This week has been extremely filled with mean girls moments between Cybele and Daisy.  I would sympathize with Daisy...but she is an instigator.  Poor thing has a few scratches from Cybele. She may be naughty with Cybele, but she is a snuggle bear with my Phoenix.

Here is a cute video of Daisy and Phoenix, enjoying a grooming session.

Foster Friday: Snuggle Cats

It's Friday, and you know what that means...foster kitty photos!

The theme for this week is how my foster cats are so snuggly.  I have always had cats that liked to be with you, not on you.  They are more independent cats, not very lap oriented.  Or at least they only want to be on my lap when I am wearing black, or don't want fur on me.  It's like they know.

Ruby and Daisy are up for adoption through here.  They are both as snuggly as they can be.  They not only like to snuggle with me, but with each other and even my tuxedo, Phoenix.

My photos were taken from my iPhone, so please excuse the quality.

Ruby, on the right loves to groom and sleep with Phoenix.  I think they have a thing going...

 

See what I mean? Ruby and Phoenix might be an item.

 

Sisters sleep together.  They crossed their arms...so stinkin' cute!

 

In case you are wondering if they wrestle and pounce each other, the answer is yes.

Ruby, on the right might look innocent but she loves to play chase with her sister and Phoenix.  Sometimes she sounds like a galloping horse, charging around from room to room.

 

Notice that Cybelle, my white cat is no where to be found on my photos?  That's because she is not a fan of snuggling with other cats.  Like I said before, they act out the movie "Mean Girls."

 

Until next time, stay classy!

Foster Friday: Ruby & Daisy Go to the Vet

 Last week, we took the girls in to the vet for a follow up visit.  While it is not their first vet visit, it was none the less an unfavorable ride and event for the girls.  Our adventure began at home, where Jeff and I herded the girls into one carrier.  Yes, I said one carrier. We have a double deluxe carrier because I thought it was a good idea at the time.  So, that was fun.
 

  Ruby and Daisy arrived in their room, and they got to work.  I can imagine the girls were thinking "What is this wicked place?  Who was here before me?  What happened to them?"

Then they heard barking...

"What was that? I don't like this place!!"

 

Poor girls.  They both gave me unforgiving looks the entire time.  I can't say I blame them.  I too don't enjoy going to the doctor's office.

 

 

Ruby was the braver one.  She actually explored the area, while Daisy managed to hide herself behind a pamphlet sign. 

 

 

 Poor little Ruby was called chubby, so we will be monitoring food intake.  She not fat, she's curvy!  The girls don't know this yet, but we will be going back to the vet for a check up in a few weeks.  Poor babies!

 

Foster Friday: Mean Girls

 

I love the movie "Mean Girls" just as much as the next girl, but it's different when the mean girls are cats.  Your cats to be exact. 

 

Cybelle

Just about every day, my cat Cybelle and my fosters, Daisy and Ruby have a mean girl confrontation. 

Daisy AKA Regina, modeling that she is the size of a dog toy

 

It typically starts with Daisy acting defensive over the spot behind my bedroom door.  I don't know what it is about that spot...but it's Daisy's turf.  She gets unnecessarily territorial behind the door.  She isn't nasty, but she isn't an angel either.  Daisy and Cybelle usually exchange one or two swipes at each other.  I like to think that Daisy is acting out her Napoleon complex, since she is tiny.  The truth is, she just wants that spot all to herself. How selfish!  

Later in the day, the big chase will commence.  Cybelle or Ruby will initiate the great herd gallop, and they are off...  Galloping from room to room, like mad little furry creatures. 

For some variety, Cybelle may get annoyed with Daisy and swipe at her if she gets too close for comfort.  Then they all chase Da Bird, like happy little cats and go to sleep. 

It's amusing that all of the girls seem to get along with Phoenix, the only male in the house.

Rest assured, all of my kitties (fosters or not) are loved, pampered and spoiled...even if they have big personalities.

Foster Friday: Meet Daisy and Ruby

Meet Daisy and Ruby, they are my foster babies.  Daisy and Ruby are sisters, and they are about 10-11 months old.  They journeyed into my home in April, from the Hagerstown, MD area.  That's about a two hour drive; a big journey for two little cats.

Daisy is the orange cat with the white markings on her face.  She is smaller and shorter than her sister.  She is also a huuuuge talker.  She loves to talk, and even complain.  Yes, I said complain.  She is more independent than her sister and she is an agent of chaos.  She might be tiny, but she sure likes to cause trouble. 

For example, Cybelle, my white girl...is a princess and not the biggest fan of any foster.  Truth be told...she herself, was a foster cat - but I suppose that is all in the past!  I often find little Daisy instigating and cornering Cybelle.  It's quite pathetic because Cybelle is nearly twice Daisy's size.  I find myself breaking up Daisy's acts of chaos at least once a week.  As I break them up, Daisy howls like she is the victim and she is being hurt.  As you can see, Daisy is also quite the trickster!

Ruby on the other hand, is slightly bigger than her sister and an angel.  She looooves food, but we are working on keeping her figure!  She is obsessed with teaser cat toys, especially Da Bird.  As soon as she sees the toy, she starts chirping or chattering.

Ruby is also very protective of her sister. Any time Daisy is crying, Ruby comes running right away, just to check on her.  She also loves to sit with me as I watch TV, and adores being pet.  She has no problem, telling you that she needs to be pet ASAP.

 Their story...

The girls were originally named Sabrina and Brooke, but...I was not a fan of the names. So, I told them, "Sorry, girls, but your names have to go!"

 

I had recently watched The Great Gatsby  again so, the name Daisy stood out to me.  Keeping with the flapper, 20's theme, I chose Ruby for the bigger girl. 

 

The day they arrived at the cattery, I could tell that Daisy's eye was bothering her.  It was red, squinty and it just did not look good. Her eye was painful to even look at.  I felt pretty bad for her. 

 

 

Poor little Daisy's eyes during her first week at my home.

  

We took both girls to the vet and after a few days, Daisy's eyes were already looking and I imagine, feeling much better. 

 

 

Now, Daisy's eyes are clear and open.  She no longer squints or shows any signs that they are troubling her.

 

I have become quite fond of these girls, and I am trying hard not to adopt them.  I hope that by blogging about them, I can show case how cute and playful they are even though they are not your average kitten size anymore.

  

Gettysburg Trip

Gettysburg National Military Park is about 1.5 hour away from where I reside, which shames me to share that this is my first visit.  However, I have been wanting to visit for quite some time.  The boy and I awoke early, hit the nearest Cracker Barrel, and hopped into the visitor center.  I was debating on a regular admission ticket or a bus tour ticket, but since it was my first visit, I splurged on a $36 bus tour ticket.

I will begin by sharing that aside from the major facts of the battle at Gettysburg, I knew nothing...but I did learn a lot! 

Our bus driver, George and licensed tour guide, Ron were an amazing duo.  We started the tour with an introduction of where everyone was from.  The boy and I learned that we were the only Virginians aboard.  Once we departed the visitor center, we drove through historic Gettysburg, where I learned some of the fighting had taken place.  We saw bullet markings on brick buildings and learned there had only been one civilian casualty.  A young woman, who sadly was not hiding when the fighting was happening.  A stray bullet sadly got her.


I knew the battle field was massive, but...wow, being there is a different story.  A map can be found here.

 We learned about Cemetery Hill, Culps hill, Little Round Top, Big Round Top, and Devil's Den.  We toured the entire battle field and learned about the three day battle.

I believe this photograph is taken from West Confederate Ave., overseeing the location of Pickett's Charge.  Where 12,000 men confederates began marching in the center of the battle field.  On the very far left, you can see Cemetery Hill in the distance.

 The very few confederates that survived, and broke thru the Union line were greeted by additional Union reinforcements and surrendered.

 This photograph is from Little Round Top.  It was a spectacular view.  On the left side (rocky area) you can see Devil's Den.

 Virginia's monument features Robert E. Lee.  I believe our tour guide indicated that Virginia was one of the first southern states to place a monument in Gettysburg's military park.  Originally, southern states were not allowed to place monuments at Gettysburg.  50 years after the war, the were invited to do so.

Tennessee's monument was placed in the 1980's....can you believe that?  That is a 100 years after the war.


I liked the Maryland monument, it depicts two brothers; one is a Union soldier while the other is a Confederate soldier.  A divided state.

Due to limited timing, there were numerous monuments that I did not get a chance to photograph.

After finishing our bus tour which lasted about 2.5 hours, we toured the museum and viewed the Cyclorama painting, which is entitled "The battle of Gettysburg" painted by a French artist.  The painting is massive and encompasses an entire room, 360 degrees.  What I liked about the painting is that it was very detailed, and I found it amusing that the artist painted himself on to the painting.  It was his signature. 

This is only a small portion of the painting.

  
 We took a free shuttle to historic downtown Gettysburg and explored the local shops and living history demos. 

Naturally, I couldn't resist the cupcake café.  The café itself is an older home that is painted in pink and white.  The inside is decked with cupcake décor and everything pink.  I questioned whether I owned this business.  I am fairly certain if I owned a business it would be pink and cupcake themed.  Have you seen my kitchen...?

Look at the happy me!

I hope you enjoyed my travel trip blog post.

Until next time,

Awesome Con 2014

After weeks of endless advertising for Awesome Con in DC,  I checked it out with some friends.

We took the metro into the city and enjoyed the fun, sticky and packed metro ride.

I was quite surprised that tickets were reasonably priced for a one day pass ($30).  I didn't have much time or motivation to create a new costume, so I dressed up as Maya Fey from the Ace Attorney games.

We arrived early, around 10 a.m. and registration lines were impressive.  Once we actually made it inside the building, we were herded around but luckily the line moved faster than I anticipated.

Registration involved getting a one day wrist band, a bag, program guide and some other literature.

I just had to take a photo with the 'feeling harassed' TV screen.

After registering, we walked around the exhibitor area and saw a lot of cool costumes.  Below are some of the costumes that stood out to me:

I saw a few Joffreys, but I have to say this one was by far my favorite.  I also saw a few children dressed as Joffrey, which is cute but also disturbing. 

Lady Loki!  There were many girls dressed as Loki.  I don't know how you make your helmet/headband, but I love it.

Assassin's Creed

Everyone was loving Maleficent.

Wilfred

Jeff was impressed with these girls, I believe they are from God Eater.  We learned their weapons were made out of foam. 

How can you not love Beetlejuice?

I saw this group when we first arrived, and I became obsessed with them.  I don't understand what they are cosplaying as...aside from the obvious.  I was too shy to ask them what they were cosplaying as, so I just settled for a photograph.  Which explains the goofy grin on my face.

My friend dressed up as a character from Fall Out.  

Later, we found someone else dressed up from Fall Out.  

I partied with the Portuguese black rooster from Nando's Piri-Piri (yum) and a cow.  

I awkwardly posed with Sonic.

Ran across a R2-D2

The vendor area was packed with cool and cute stuff.  I resisted from buying everything but settled for a cute print and magnet of a cat from Kitty Cassandra. I love my print, I can't wait to add it to my cupcake themed kitchen.

There weren't many concurrent activities at the Con aside from guest sessions, sci-fi speed dating, a video game room, and a costume contest.  I attempted to go to some of these activities but the lines were extremely long and disorganized.  The video game room was also entirely too small.  Overall, it wasn't a bad con, but it had limited concurrent activities.  I also found it strange that the vendors, artists, guests and food court were all in one giant space.  In the end, I still had a ton of fun and enjoyed seeing the many, many Doctor Who cosplayers.  Who knew there were so many ways to make the tardis a cute costume?

Until next time,