The REAL story By ELSA Queen Cat of Windy Hill

Oh no, no, do NOT listen to Humom about her little adventure over there at WindyHill while I ~ Elsa, Queen of the cats here at Weedy Flats starved almost to the point of extinction! And in MY condition!  Oh! The audacity of Humom to do this to me.  Let me tell you what really  happened the day Argent went home!!

My water was luke warm at best, and disgusting Mooshi slobbered all in it, and he puts his furr into the water!!  Oh Bleck!  To think that I ~ Queen Elsa have to suffer from hairball attacks and it's not even my hair!  Umph!  Yucky Mooshi!

I suffered, I suffered greatly I tell you, and the litter boxes.  Oh my, the condition of the litter boxes just made me weep.  In fact, I was forced to be so bold as to add to the poopies at the end of the hallway in order to illustrate my utter disgust at humoms total irresponsibility of being off galevanting all night long!  

Oh ~ and to top it off, McKenna has her babies now, and she was squalling all night complaining about no noms for the mama who just gave birth,  and no humom, and then the kittens crying all night long, and on an on about how she needed special treatment and her warm KMR drink before bed!  Are you kidding me?!  I am the Queen here, not Miss McKenna...KMR drink indeed.  Pfft.


Mooshi went around yowling about missing humom and wanting his tomato treats (I told he is a vegetarian the weirdo!) When Mooshi yowls he sounds like a baby pterodactyl and I was subjected to listening to this all night long.  UGH!  

All the bedroom doors were closed, so I had to sleep on the lumpy, no cover having, no down pillow having, dog slobbered on couch!  Why, it's as if I were just a common house cat or something!  Not to mention the fact that Mooshi insisted on cuddling right up next to me, it will keep us warmer he says, I have thick fur to keep you snugly with he says...I ended up sneezing all night while he snored away.  He twitches in his sleep you know...he says he chasing tomatos in the great tomato field, evidently the ripest, juiciest tomato of all gives all good vegetarian cats the best tomato juice ever in a crystal gobblet if you can catch him.  Mooshi hasn't caught the Great tomato yet.  It's a quest of his.  I just wanted humom and some fresh food!  All good  humoms know that half a bowl of cat food is like no cat food at all, it's not fresh, I can't eat that.  I am not going to be raising scavenger kittens here!
So finally, finally,  humom gets home.  At long, long last.  She brought the idiots with her and she smelled like all manner of dog and of all things..potato chips and bread.  Whatever, while she was out enjoying her chip fest, I was suffering at length.  I told her all about it too.  Very loudly.  

Do yo know what she said?  She said "I know Elsa, I love you too kitty, I missed you too, I will get you some extra food in just a moment.  Let me wash up."

Wash up!  Is she joking?  It's cat food, you pour it from a bag, how risky is that really?  Moreover, I was NOT saying I love you, I was telling her how awful it was of her to leave me in this horrendous state! I rubbed against her legs hoping she would feel the rib bones that surely are protruding right this moment due to the torturous starvation she chose to put me through.

She ruffled my fur and set some noms down in front of me and then went on about her merry way!  What an utter shock!  I did not sit on her lap and purr for her for at least 2 hours just so she knew the full extent of my disdain.

Please oh loyal Queen Elsa followers, please do not be duped by her tales of woe when she is leaving me here left to my own devices in Weedy Flats whilst she gives not a care for my  welfare, as was obvious by the state of my un-fresh food when she finally deemed it unnecessary to make an appearance here to tend to me...her ever loving and purrful fur baby...Elsa..the Queen. 

The Day Argent Went Home

This post could have about 5 different titles really...like The day I almost quite smoking/The day we almost froze in the rain/ The death of a tire/ The saga of the Starving Cats/ Why I have the Best Boss ever/How to: survive on potato chips and bread/No coffee and a headache ...well this list could go on...and it may:)

It all started out innocently enough.  Myself and Argents owner planned to meet up with each other and evaluate his progress.  This calls for working with him and his owner.  His owner also brought a lovely pony to be quickly evaluated as well.

The original plan was to go on a quick trail ride, as it covers several evaluation points on several horses at once and it really gives all parties an opportunity to get a good idea of what they are looking at and the work involved (or not)

Mind you, these plans were laid on a lovely day of about 65 degrees, sun was shining, birds were singing we even decided to have the kids along. (human kids)

The day plans were made...

Cue the ever present storm cloud and the arctic blast of cold wind on Windy Hill.  Drizzling rain, wet ponies, shivering child and two goofy ladies that want to play with the ponies...(That would be myself and Argents owner)  At some point I'm each of us separately questioned our own sanity and yet...we kept going...why?  Because it's FUN!

How it felt the day we actually did this!

In dealing with animals you must be ever ready to change plans/clothes/goals/shoes/tack and animals:)  So, change of plans, quick evaluation of pony and super fun ~ albeit wet and cold ~ lesson with child on pony.  So far so good.  Pony and child took it all in stride.

Next for Argent, our ever full of personality Dales Pony.  From the very moment I took him out of the pasture his every movement told me he was in a mood today.  (Oh Geez)  But I was sooo looking forward to showing him off, I had been so proud of him (and myself) the last time we had worked together, he was forward moving, ears  perked, eyes shining, smile on his face, only one or two tricks to remind me that he liked to play and then pleasure pony at his finest!

NOT SO TODAY!  Now, he started off agreeably enough, a few little quirks here and there, I wanted him to raise the withers a bit and bend around the leg more, maybe a touch softer to the bit...but everyone needs to warm up right?  So, he was a little stiff...he was agreeable enough and he worked along as asked.  That was with his owner...now I got on him in order to to get him to bend a little more and be a bit softer and more "liquid"

Naturally, this is when Argent decides he is finished working for the day.  If ever you have worked with a Draft breed that has said "I am finished for the day" , you know first hand how long it can take to convince them otherwise.  The worst part is, he had NEVER exhibited this behavior to me before.  A spook, a snort, a trick here or there, but never "All four brakes and you can't make me go" !!   I felt like Squidward on the spongebob episode where Squidward was trying to get the rock to drive....of course the spongebob reference could have come from the mind numbing cold that Argent apparently didn't mind a bit!

NOT moving! 

Well, as you know, we had to follow through.  So, I am on this very stubborn boy for quite some time *note it was the Parelli method that won out and finally got him going.  I sheepishly admit, I was proud of him and it made me happy that he did it.  

We all piled into the house for some much needed heat with our hair dripping, hands freezing, toes aching and numb noses...hey ~ all in a day right?  This is everyday stuff for me, so no biggie.  I did feel incredibly bad for the children.  You know kids, you tell them to go inside and stay warm, and they want to stay outside and point and laugh  (ahem) I  mean, watch the adults.

Now back outside to gather all of Argents belongings...okay...all seems to be going well, so  being the wimp that I am, I venture back inside the house.  I know, I know that was totally cruel.  I should have helped load.   In my defense, both the pony and Argent load very quickly and easily.

Argent and Cisco load very easily

Once inside my son and I get our belongings gathered for our trek back to the other place.  I have  kittens to tend to, Cats to tend to, other horses to tend to, a warm dinner to make...yep..time to go.  I get in the car and the phone rings... It's Argents owner...

They are stuck at the end of my driveway.  Well, it is muddy, and the truck and trailer are unfamiliar to Argents owner.  No problem, I agree to go down and hold horses while she gets un-stuck.  getting unstuck only took a few moments...then came the part where she was trying to realign everything and back out with out the horses.  Mind you she made it all the way down my very long driveway.  During the realigning process her truck tire hits the edge of the cow grate...POW.  Yep, tire blew!

No problem, they decide to call a tow truck.

tow truck is called....

Well, it turns out that NO tow truck company anywhere has some special part needed to take a tire off.  Or something like that.  Either way, there was noone coming to save them on this cold, rainy and now dark night.   I offer again for them to come up to the house and share some hot homemade soup with us.  The offer was politely declined...I'm pretty sure that my fate is sealed here.  They will probably never come back again.  Meanwhile, Argent and Cisco are hanging in the round pen.

4 HOURS later, they end up going to a hotel nearby.  If anything CAN be considered nearby to my house.  I'm way, way out in the country.   This has to be the most expensive horse training EVER! I stress to myself.   Gee Whiz, and they are such nice people too.  

Meanwhile, my son and I are effectively trapped here on WindyHill for the night.  Why?  Well, the truck and trailer are at the end of my driveway...stuck...maybe permanently from the looks of it.   I can't go around, as the fields are muddy and then I will also be stuck!

I try to call my boss in advance to let her know I may be late.  I only work ONE day a week IF I'm called in and I am extremely grateful for that one day when I get it.  I want my boss to like me and call me again. No answer of-course.

Tomorrow is another day, all is well.  

SO~ it's tomorrow, I tried calling my boss again.  No answer.  This means, I will be calling after I am already supposed to be there.  Strike ONE.  *stress*  Plus, by now I'm sure Argents owner has decided my driveway is cursed and will probably have both of her horses Blessed when she gets home.  *stress*

picture credit: http://www.davegranlund.com 

This leads to our next minor problem.  All we have in the house is 1/2 a bag of chips.  B---and I argue over those.  He wins.  I shuffle in to get coffee.  We are OUT Of coffee.  Oh Lord no coffee?!  How will I survive?!  My son snickers at me while he contentedly eats chips and drinks water.   Fine, I have water too.  Yummy.  

*stress* Argents owner is probably calling all her friends right now expanding on the dangers of using country trainers.  *stress* My boss finally answers the phone, and even to my ears it sounds like I am lying...

Boss:  You are stuck at your house because there is a trailer at the end of your driveway?  Really?  Can't you just ...drive around?  

Me:  I can't drive in the farmers fields, I'll get stuck too.

Boss: well, hurry up, do you think you will be here soon?

Me:  Oh yes, I'm sure it won't take anytime.

STRIKE TWO!

*stress* I hope Argents owner and her kids got to eat...what if they are starving?  Hope they were comfortable.  Wish I could offer to pay for the cab ride/hotel/tow truck/help.  Oh sure, I could offer but they don't take fake fairy dust and smiles any more at most establisments.  

In my no coffee having mind, and stress induced state this all somehow became Michaels fault.  If HE were here, he would have had that truck/trailer unstuck a long time ago, I would be at work and everyone else would be home and happy and warm for goodness sakes!  But nooo, he wants to play house with the Fairy Princess and leave me trapped here forever..forever...forever...(yes it really echoed like that:)  

I had purchased my very first Electronic Cigarette the day before.  I smoked (outside the house of course) the very last real cigarette the night before.  I LOVE my electronic cigarette.  I'm pretty sure I would have ridden a horse to the store to buy cigarettes (and coffee while I was at it) if I hadn't had it.  I am officially hooked on these and soo soo happy I tried them.  

My boss calls : Are you coming in?

Me: yes, yes, I am I sware...they are doing things down there now, I'm sure it won't be anytime.  

Boss:  mmmh hmmm, well hurry as fast as you can....can't they call a tow truck or something?  

Me: No tow companies have a part that's needed for something about a tire.

Boss: what?

Me: I don't know,  but they are doing things it shouldn't be much longer.

Boss..."yeah, okay, see you soon then"

STRIKE THREE!

My undying gratitude to my Boss for not firing me on the spot!!  I was 3 hours late by this time!!  3 hours?!  Oh my gosh can you imagine?  

Soon enough I get the call that all is well and we can all get out of there.  Argents owner had called back up reinforcements and once they arrived, everything went smoothly and they were able to get out with no problems.  *stress* Argents owner probably really hates me now, wonder how much it cost for the reinforcements to drive all the way here from a state away!!  AAAAAH  

Quickly, I gather everything and leave...FIRST I have to go to the gas station as I was running on empty.  Next, we need FOOD.  Third, my electronic cigarette has run out of...vapor or whatever it is...

Finally, to my place of work. Now, I have to break it to my boss that I have two huge dogs with me.  STRIKE FOUR!  (who in the heck gets four strikes...ever?!)  I say a quick prayer and tell her about the dogs.  This woman has the patience of a Saint and barely missed a beat before telling me where to stuff the dogs....(in crates in the crate room of course, there is plenty of space that particular day for big dogs)  I wanted to bow and grovel to her, but she just wanted me to hurry up and get to work, no time for groveling.  On Bosses day I 'm going to steal..no ...pick...no..buy her flowers and candy!  I am SO lucky.  

    

In the end Argents owner, her family and her truck and trailer, make is safely back home and all is well.  She doesn't have an never ending grudge against my home on WindyHill or it's driveway, and has even agreed to come back when she needs more training with her horses.  We will make arrangements in advance for truck and trailer turn around:)

The Syringe, the Dogs and the Nice Police Officer

So, my Persian cat Mooshi has been sneezing lately.  With Mooshi that indicates that it's time for antibiotics. If the weather even thinks of changing he needs them.  With this said, I decided to take my antibiotics with me when I came to WindyHill.  The cats and dogs travel with me back and forth.  That's all simple enough right?

Mooshi sleeping (as usual) and Elsa

Well, on the way from WindyHill to the other place at around 1 a.m., I had both dogs in the back seat, and Mooshi and Elsa in the very back in their protective carrier.  Along with the pets come the antibiotics and the rest of their accouterments.  I administer said antibiotics via a syringe with no needle; the powdered Amoxicillian is diluted in water for semi-easy oral administration to the cat.  Just suck the mixed solution into the syringe and put the syringe into cats mouth, depress plunger ` and Voila!  Getting the liquid mixture into the syringe is made easy by using a small vial  ....such as say.. a shot glass.   (Just follow along, you will see why you needed the description as we go along.)

Looks Innocent right?

The dogs in the back were very restless, the Great Dane Lab cross kept putting her nose in between the window and the side of the drivers seat sniffing loudly and wagging her tail ~ bang, bang, bang against the car door goes the tail.  This incites Doom to "talk" about it.  Growl, growl, growl.  This provokes Karma (Lab Dane cross) to tell him to shut up ~ this involves her moving around and Doom sticking his big ol' head up front in between the seats to let me know that Karma is bothering him.  Lots of movement in the back seat as they re-shuffle.  Meanwhile, I am actually trying to drive.  Elsa lends to the chaos by voicing a plaintive "Merrow" from the back of the car every so often.  Mooshi is probably sleeping.  While the dogs are pacing around in the back seat, the phone rings.  It's my friend of Germany.  Eh what the heck, may as well answer it, it's late, no one else is on the road (with the exception of the weirdo that has been following me for the past 20 minutes.)

Doom and Karma pretending this is how they always look

Cue the idiots (ahem I mean dogs) to decide that they need to re-adjust sleeping positions right NOW.  Karma tries to climb upfront to the passenger seat.  I push her gently back and tell her to lay down already. Doom has now taken up the entire back seat.  Karma has to settle for the floor.  Fine.

During this little dance, I happen to look up and see red and blue lights in my rearview.  Uh oh..I tell my friend I'm getting pulled over and have to go.




I pull over.  As soon as the car stops Karma jumps to high alert.

I roll down my window, tell Karma to be good and ...I glance to my right; on the car seat next to me is the syringe, shot glass and powdered Amoxicillian for the darn cat.  I wonder if I should move that stuff.  I decide against it, as it may look suspicious.  But having it sitting there totally doesn't right?

Crunch, crunch, crunch goes the officers footsteps on the ground.  Cue Karma to go into HIGH ALERT DEFCON 5 !!!!    She barked so much that she almost choked herself.

"Meoooowwww" says Elsa.

Doom laid quietly in the back seat like it was nothing.

I shove a leftover poptart into Karmas mouth as the officer approaches my window hoping to silence her.

"License and registration please"

The voice causes Doom to slowly raise his massive body up off the seat and give a single "Woof" as he edges closer to me from the back seat.

Officer steps back from the window.

 I smile wanly at the officer.  I have to hand him my license through the window while he stands 3 feet from the car.  He tells me to stay in the car.  (no kidding, as if I have any chance of leaving the car)
Officer glances briefly at my license .."Do you have any idea why I pulled you over?"  (eh..because you saw all the commotion in the back seat after following me for 20 minutes and wondered why my children were not buckled in?)

Me:  No officer..Sir
Officer:  You were driving erratically.
Me: Oh, eh he he, yes Sir, sorry about that.  umm, my registration is in my glove box and it's broken and I can't open it unless I break it open, would you like me to do so?

The officer leans an inch forward to glance into my car...both dogs lean three inches forward and Doom is growling low in the back of his throat.  Officer eyes my syringe and shot glass...He raises and eyebrow..and then says.

"Nope, just let me run your license real quick and if everything checks out, you can go with just a warning."

Officer walks away.  Karma scrambles to watch him out the back window.  Doom settles back into a more comfortable sitting position in the back seat and waits.

My driving record is spotless (thank Goodness) and he comes back with a smile and a pink slip telling me to drive safely.  He hands me the slip from three feet away.  As I reach for it...both dogs lean forward, Doom growling again, and Karma of course is doing her ansty dance.  Prance, prance, prance, wine, woof, woof, wine.  prance.

Officer beats a hasty retreat.  Karma gives a final "Woof" (and stay out!)
I turn to both dogs before starting off:
Me:  Okay, good dogs, you have saved the day, now lay down and be quiet.

Karma groans as she settles onto the floor in contentment and Doom Sighs loudly and he stretches full-length across the entire back seat, front and back legs hanging over the edges.

"Meow?" says Elsa

Elsa..this is her sneaking..not obvious at all right?

We made him home without further incident.
and ...yes, the "weirdo" following me turned out to be the Police Officer...
Haven't heard from my friend in Germany for awhile though....

Argent Update!

Well, it was time to put Argent in his harness and see how we fared with that.  I had grand plans of going down the road....we made it to the end of the driveway.

He was great for the harnessing process.  My  little picture taker got every moment of it on film.  Don't worry, I won't be  posting every second of it here, as I'm pretty sure the server would crash.

My son proudly told me...I've taken 254 pictures already!  Oh for joy, that means I'll be wading through them for hours to choose the best ones....but at least we have pictures!

I'll let Argent tell the rest of the story:)

Argent here, the Great Dales Pony, visiting Windy Hill and the Woman.  She's okay, she brings me food, that part I like.  Let me tell you how it really went yesterday..

First of all, she came in my home dragging this big unwieldy bag, of course I had to investigate being the oh-so-curious horse that I am...

Whacha got there woman?

I immediately recognized the smell, it's the harness.  This is the crazy thing that humans put on me so I will pull the cart.  I look GREAT pulling a cart.  But what fun is it to just pull a cart without some trickery?  I love to play tricks on the humans.

Hemes first

The Hemes is the easy part, and since the woman has been working with me on putting my head down all the time, I went ahead and put my nose into it since I figured that is what she wanted, then I put my head down and it slid off. hahahaha.  Oddly, she behaved as if she didn't want that.  She put it back on me.

I better get carrots for this

I was kind enough to put my nose in it again, she was on to my trickery by this time, so she moved on to the next part of my fancy duds.  I stood very quietly while she did this, as it was blatantly obvious that she was confused; the poor thing.  

The next part is the bridle, the bridle is my least favorite part, but since the woman was moving slowly and being kind I was very nice about it.  All of my glorious hair gets in the way and she has to fuss with my ears a lot, I was very good about that.  I know she secretly wants to give me a bridle  path so that my bridles will fit properly in their place when she puts them on.  

I'll even keep my head down for this

The woman checked and double checked everything to see if it was on right and comfortable, I'm pretty sure I took a small nap while she fussed around with all of that.   Even the boy got tired at some point and sat down to take the photos.

checking and double checking

After all of that standing around, when it was time for me to actually walk, I wondered if she was serious or if she was just testing me.  She had to tell me 3 times to go ahead and walk.  I did and I was very lazy about it.  I think the woman liked that though because she said "Good boy " a lot.  

walking in the round pen.

Well, walking in the round pen is easy stuff, so the woman decided she wanted to take me out into the open. Snicker.  When we first went out there I pretended I was frightened of everything.  The blue flower that was blowing in the breeze, the long blade of grass, the dark colored dirt.  I even snorted once!  I also discovered that if I turn around really quick it confused the woman and was able to walk whatever direction I wanted to.  I walked back towards the round pen.  However, the woman did catch on to my little trick of turning fast ~ she was mumbling something about "quick Arabian turns" and "compensating" ...I don't know, but I couldn't do it anymore once she figured that game out.  She completely ignored me when I told her there were scary things ahead and pranced, she just kept on going along.  So, I had to stop that too.  Then I tried going in reverse!  Well, when she figured that one out, she just asked me to keep going in reverse.  That was no fun!  I tried it a few more times and then gave up on that one too.  I did try the quick turns a few more times, but she got really good at anticipating my next move, so I couldn't do that either.  I threw my head up in protest several times when I thought she was really using too much pressure on the bit to tell me when to stop.  I know she was trying to be gentle, but this is a big bit and a little goes a long way.  I did stop tossing my head when she was softer with her hands.  (sheesh)  The things I have to teach people.  When I had stopped using  all of my tricks in the yard, we went down the driveway.

in the yard.

Down the driveway and back up.

See how relaxed I am going down the driveway?  That took some time and I played a lot of tricks on the woman first, but if you look closely, you can see that she is driving me with her palms open, this means there is not a lot of pressure on my mouth and I like that.  I also liked that she was very confident about nothing trying to eat me.  Even though I was pretending that I was scared, she sensed that I needed a leader and thank goodness she chose to show me that she is going to be the leader when we are together. 

Now down the driveway

turning around to go back down the driveway

Once the woman figured out that I would walk with my head down and my body relaxed if she would anticipate my every move before I did it, I went ahead and relaxed and let her do the steering.  I was sort of looking forward to going down the road too, because I thought I might be able to try some more games with her.  But evidently she decided that we had played enough games that day and when I was moving quietly and obediently she unharnessed me and put me in the larger corral with some grass in it as a reward.  I loved my reward as you can clearly see!

playing in the bigger field! 

I can't wait until we do this again, I  haven't decided if I want to play new games or if I should just let her be the leader.  I'm not entirely certain I trust her completely yet.  

Elsa's trip to the vet!

 Elsa, Queen of Windy Hill here:

You know, when the traveling box comes out, I know something I don't like is sure to follow...but humom knows that I can not resist the allure of the dark miniature cave... beckoning me inside.


  What if she has hidden noms in there?  What if it's a secret passageway to Catopia?  Well, either way...this is how my trip to the vet started!

Then there was the car ride.  To show my displeasure at humoms fraudulent behavior and trickery I hid under the towel she put in there.   I considered going potty too.  I didn't do that because I knew I'd have to sit there until she pulled over and fixed it.  That would be way to much effort on my part.  I did make a horrible wretching sound that I know makes humom very nervous when driving.  tee hee hee...but then everything makes humom nervous when driving.

dang it!  She did it again.

We went to a new vet this time, a vet that specializes in cats!  It's about time that humom recognized my Queenliness and took me to a place with no idiot dogs.
The vet was very nice to me and they even have a cat tree to climb up while you wait.  I left with a clean bill of health annnnnd, I am also pregnant.  I told you Divinci was nice to me:)  I guess all the warm milk and flowers from him paid off.

My Mom Moonie

My own mom Moonie (may she rest in peace) was very much the teenage mother....she carried all of my brothers and sisters to different corners of the house after she had us.   My humom found me beside the couch, my brother under the coffee table, my other sister beside the bedroom door...well it just goes on and on.  In the end humom had to put Moonie in a much smaller room and put her in a large cave with us to keep her from planting us around the house.  After a week of that, my Mom decided we were safe in the one spot.      Sometimes "Uncle" Mooshi would watch us too.  Anyways,  humom is slightly nervous that I may act the same way and has plans of putting me in a small room right from the start.

McKenna's fat tummy from the top

Elsa and her svelte figure

I for one, haven't decided how I feel about this.  I do know that I love all the extra food I am getting.  I look at McKenna though and her figure is just ruined!  I know, I know, she says she is just fluffy, but trust me, a lot of that is baby! I can't have my svelte figure ruined!  I will look  like a swallowed a basket ball!  When we got back home, I got more food ~ special extra yummy food that the nice vet lady gave to us.  Then I napped.  Today we are going back to the house with all the other cats and I'll have to reestablish my Queenship there, I suppose that Mooshi has taken over while I've been gone.

Some quick Gossip, I heard through the cat-vine that Mooshi hid under the boys bed before school and he was in there allll day long...if I know Mooshi he placed little "presents" all over the bed.  Humom will clean that up when we get home.  I bet she will sware about it too, and then she will have to put money in the sware jar.  When the sware jar is full, we get extra noms!  I like it when Mooshi  makes her sware.  giggle.  I never make her sware, even when I hop into the shower with her and knock all the shampoo bottles down.  Humom laughs at me then.  I think I will teach my babies to like water also....
I also heard through the cat-vine that McKenna will be having her babies anytime now.  The whole house is going to be full of babies all over the place!  McKenna will have little puff balls that look like her and Mooshi.  I wonder what mine will look like.  Humom wants a black kitten with a short tail and curled ears.  I told her I would see what I could do about that.

I think I hear the can opener gotta go!

The CAT ~ okay CATS of Windy Hill

Elsa Highlander Female

I'm Elsa, and I will tell you that I am the head Cat here at Windy Hill.  Mostly, no one argues with me about that.

I'm a female Highlander cat.  I am pampered and babied and snuggled (when I feel like it) by my human mom ~ or my "Humom" as I like to call her. .   As you can clearly see, I am gorgeous.  I am a top mouse hunter and string attacker, and my favorite thing is to play in the water.  I am slender and sleek and I'm like a mongoose, quick and alert and ready for anything!

I have no idea why, but my humom doesn't appear to appreciate my love of water when she is taking a shower or brushing her teeth.  I mean, why turn it on if you don't want me to play in it? Duuuuh,

Being the head cat that I am, I get the run of the whole house, all the time.  Some of the other (read: lessor) cats only get certain levels of the house.  I even go on what the house slave terms the "tasting tour of the countries"  really, I am just making sure that the others don't have better nom noms than I do.  I won't tolerate that!

Divinci Highlander Male

Recently, I married Divinci, He's pretty handsome I must say.  But I'm just a shy little girl and I am not used to such advances.  Why, I even had to smack his face for getting fresh with me!  The nerve!  Divinci is the strong silent type towards my Humom.  He runs when she comes close and when he gets in a corner, she reaches down and pats him and he hisses.  He never bites or scratches though, it's just a bluff.  To tell the truth, he's really sweet to me, and the kittens around the house.  They climb all over him and he sits there quietly  ~ it's almost like he enjoys them! Whatever, kittens are fun to sniff, but they have no play value until they are bigger.  Then it's totally fun to race across the room and pounce on them and then we play chase all around the living room.  Shortly after that, they leave to go to their new human moms and dads.   I guess my Humom can't keep everyone, I'm glad she kept me.

Now that we have established that I am indeed the Queen of my Castle ~ and yeah, and the King Divinci (whatever, he is content to live my shadow) I'll introduce the others.

Lula Kinkalow Female

Lets see, there is Lulla, she is a Kinkalow, she has the same kind of awesome curled ears I do, but she also has a long tail and short legs ~ can you imagine?!  She doesn't even jump the counters or anything! She just lays around and purrs and loves and loves and purrs, and she adores everyones kittens.  They all call her "Aunt Lu"  Pfft, too much love for me.  When I first met Lulla I hissed at her, and she KISSED me right on the nose!  Kissing the Queen?!  I was so offended that I ran away from her growling the entire time...to think that she had the absolute nerve to put her short little self right in my bubble and then KISS me?!  BLECK ~ I'm still getting the hair off of my nose. Oh ~ ah yeah, anyway, Lulla is visiting another family right now.  A family with children.  Lulla loves children ~ she loves everything ....I think she is a hippie cat.  I wonder if they should have named her rainbow or river ...oh wait, her registered name has Cupcake in it...well there you have it...That explains it.  Right, back to what I was saying.  Lulla is something humom calls "Fixed" ~ it really means that Lulla can't have babies anymore.  Lulla used to have babies around here, but when her husband died she was too sad to be remarried so she was fixed.  That just made her fatter.

Akina Napoleon Female

Next there is Akina: Akina  is a Napoleon, she also has short legs ~ humom has a thing for "unique" Akina is a little precious princess baby and she stares at me with these soul searching eyes and it gives me the creeps. It's like she can read my mind...or she is trying to control my mind.  Either way, it's creepy.  Akina is so soft and plush that she feels like some kind of stuffed animal, and to be honest, she looks like one too.   When humom isn't looking I try to put Akina in a purse ~ I think Akina should be a purse cat.  She is too short and fluffy to be much else.  Her kittens look like Pillows with eyes ~ ridiculous!   Humom seems to like her though.  Akina ia married to Mooshi.

Mooshi Persian Male

Mooshi is a typical Persian cat, a giant ball of fluff with eyeballs, sometimes you can even see his ears.  He is the goofball of our cat family.  He thinks the Wolf Hybrid dog is his Mommy.  I'm not kidding about this, whenever Bishop (Wolf Hybrid dog) comes inside the house, Mooshi will not leave him alone.  Mooshi rubs underneath Bishops chin, he walks over his paws he rubs his face on Bishops furr...and to top it off, Mooshi is a flopper.  A flopper is a cat that will wonder onto a humans lap and then FLOP down and roll on his back, put all four feet in the air and purr like a fool.  I would never be so undignified.  I'll get a photo of Mooshi in a Flop and post here if you like:)

Now ~ get this....I'm pretty sure it's illegal in several states...but Mooshi...he has ANOTHER wife!  I'm not kidding, he's also married to McKenna, she's another Persian.  She is pregnant by him right now!  When Humom brought McKenna home Mooshi ignored her completely.  She had to make them live together for a long time by themselves or he would just leave McKenna sitting around wondering what she had done wrong while Mooshi would go and have picnics with Akina.  Well, after McKenna and Mooshi lived together..alone...for a long time, McKenna walked out with a wedding bath and a smile.  Akina and McKenna get along okay, they both flick their tails up in the air and twitch the ends of them when they sniff noses, but that's the extent of it.  McKenna has long puffy fur, and you can tell that she is very dignified.  She would never EVER flop.  She does sit on the arm of the couch and watch t.v. with humom though.

McKenna Female Persian

We also have Creamy, Creamy is also a female Highlander, and she was married to Divinci before I grew up enough to be married.  Hmm, what to say about Creamy...well she and I are friends you know.  We will eat together, and sit together.  But she is very quiet and self contained, she meows a lot too..I think she is neurotic.  She is a very good Mommy though, she just had some of Divinci's babies about 4 weeks ago.  She lets me play Aunt to them since Lula is visiting a family right.  I don't play Aunt very often....like I said Kittens that age are for sniffing.

Creamy Highlander Female

As an honorable mention, I have to introduce Poka ~ Poka is the house slaves Poka dot cat.  He got her from a tree Fairy and he claims Poka brings good luck.  I say she brings poopie to the hallway carpet and makes Humom complain about shamooing and stuff.  She is also VERY brave.  Akina hates Poka, Poka doesn't back down from Akina.  I laugh at them and then Poka gets mad at me and chases me and then we play fight in a big ball on the floor and make a bunch of noise and race around in circle and then Poka runs up the curtains.  I've tried to run up the curtains too, but I can't quite do it, I stretch way way up there and pretend I'm climbing though.  Poka sits up on top and laughs at me.  Poka and Mooshi are good friends, it didn't start out that way.  It started out with Poka chasing the Poof on Mooshis tail: he gets shaved sometimes and Humom leave a poof at the end of his tail so he will feel like a Lion.

Poka the Poka Dot Cat

 Mooshi says it makes him feel like a cheerleader instead.  He's very in touch with his feminine side.   uhhh, anyways, Poka plays with Mooshi's poof and Mooshi being the true Persian that he is turns around and give her a slow motion swat.  Mooshi is very chill.  Poka would crack up laughing, leap in the air and pounce on Mooshis head, this gave way to more tail swishing...much to Poka's delight.  Poka would pounce again, fed up, Mooshi would leave...Poka would follow swatting all the while.  Mooshi gave up and now he just lets her play with  his tail.  In return he gets a massage from her once a week.  It's a nice friendship.


At some point I 'll introduce the idiots (read:dogs) and Mooshi's mom ~ you will have to see it to believe it.

The living Arrangements

As I said in the beginning, I get the run of the whole house, because I am that cool.  McKenna and Mooshi get the middle floor.

Akina has her own room downstairs and she also gets to run around in the "open area" if she gets too bored in the room.  Personally, I think this is stupid because it's just more rooms down stairs...what is the difference?  Either way,  Akina seems to think that is cool.   When humom thinks that Mooshi and Akina need to spend quality time together, she puts Mooshi in the downstairs room with Akina. 

Creamy and Divinci live in an outdoor cattery.  That's because Divinci BEGGED to go outside, finally humom let him have his way, within reason.  She gave him an outdoor cattery and Creamy to hang out with.  When humom thinks that Creamy has had enough babies already, humom brings Creamy into the other downstairs room.   I suppose when I have babies I'll have the top floor.  

When Lulla is home she gets the run of the house as well, since she is fixed.  

Humom won't let me play with Mooshi anymore now that I'm all grown up and married to Divinci, not that it would matter, Mooshi has enough to deal with in his own two wives.  He barely acknowledges my existence

So there you have it, the cats of Windy Hill:)  Look for lots of Updates!  Meanwhile ~ I think I hear a faucet on and I have to go...   

  

The Least Weasel

Have I mentioned the Least Weasel yet?   According to Google, it's found where there a large rodent populations.

Least Weasel

This is what inspired me to call the Orkin Man.  Not the weasel, the large rodent population. The Least Weasel is in my house you see.  Not outside, but hanging out in the house!  I probably have Least Weasel babies running around right now.  He lives upstairs, you can hear him tromping around at night, to me he looks like a glorified Ferret.  In fact,  I thought it was someones pet Ferret left here to be honest.  Turns out they like rodents too.  

Here is what Wikipedia says about Least Weasels of Folklore

The Ancient Macedonians believed that to see a weasel was a good omen. In some districts of Macedon, women who suffered from headaches after having washed their heads in water drawn overnight would set the problem down to the fact that a weasel had previously used the water as a mirror, but they would refrain from mentioning the animal's name, for fear that it would destroy their clothes. Similarly, a popular superstition in southern Greece had it that the weasel had previously been a bride, who was transformed into a bitter animal which would destroy the wedding dresses of other brides out of jealousy.^[29] According to Pliny the Elder, the weasel is the only animal capable of killing the basilisk;

To this dreadful monster the effluvium of the weasel is fatal, a thing that has been tried with success, for kings have often desired to see its body when killed; so true is it that it has pleased Nature that there should be nothing without its antidote. The animal is thrown into the hole of the basilisk, which is easily known from the soil around it being infected. The weasel destroys the basilisk by its odour, but dies itself in this struggle of nature against its own self.^[30]

The Chippewa believed that the weasel could kill the dreaded wendigo giant by rushing up its anus.^[31] In Inuit mythology, the weasel is credited with both great wisdom and courage, and whenever a mythical Inuit hero wished to accomplish a valorous task, he would generally change himself into a weasel.^[32] According to Matthew Hopkins, a witch hunter general during theEnglish Civil War, weasels were the familiars of witches.^[33]

All very interesting right?  Well this did not prevent me from calling the Orkin man, especially after I saw this:

This verifies the fact that there must be a large rodent population in my house!  This stupid mouse family was living in my empty kitchen drawer.  She let me pull the drawer out and take a photo for pete sakes!  Are you kidding me?!  Well, what did I expect from a house that sat empty for 6 years?  There were also two birds nests in the living room, and the basement was 4 feet high with water...NOT making that up. ...and all the windows in the house were broken...what was I thinking?!

But I digress, the Orkin man arrived as specified.  I made certain that he knew I had pets and children and they they couldn't be harmed in the de-bugging, de-mousing of my house.  He assured me all was well.  He went around mysteriously placing objects around the house, and he sprayed stuff along the baseboards and outside.  Wow...bug free at Windy Hill can you imagine?  

Before he left I mentioned again the importance of nothing harmful to children or pets...say for instance if my cat eats a dead mouse will the cat die?

Orikin Man:  The cat could get very sick...

Me: Okay, well, I can' t have sick cats, can you do something about that?

Big sigh from the Orkin man...he goes back around the house...

Me: Are you going to get in the attic and the crawl space too?

Orkin man: no, no, I didn't come prepared for that, I only came to do a basic treatment.

Me: but I'm paying for a special treatment, they charged me extra...

Orkin man: I'll do it next time...

He explains how high tech all this is and how they come back for free if it doesn't work etc.  When he left, I totally checked out what he put down for the mice...

you wanna know what it was?!  STICKY PADS!! 

High tech indeed.  This is what the Orkin man did, this is what I paid for.  Makes me really wonder what in the world he was spraying.  

I was hoping for the electronic mouse traps...

Way cooler.  I don't think I have to worry about the least weasel getting caught in the sticky traps.   I'm thinking of naming him Frank.  
No mice on the sticky pads yet either, but the Spider population is down to nill. 

Remind me to tell you about the Fertility Frog next time....

Fertility Frog

I Bet you didn't know we were running an animal Habitat around here did you?