Sarah's "New" H & J

Our darling daughter, Sarah, has been in the hospital for a few days. Long story. Short version, she needs a repeat procedure involving one of the bile ducts. Lots of pain put her in the hospital on Friday night. Procedure was done on Monday. She's recuperating now. Hopefully will be home soon and recovering. Usually takes two weeks of really laying low, then at least another couple months before you feel decent again.

But that's not what this story is about. This story is about Henry and Jackson, who've visited this blog before. See here. If you glance to the side of this page, you'll see the oil paintings we commissioned of our two cats, Mr. Hamilton and Miss Ellie. Recently we asked the artist, Nance DeClue, to do a portrait of Sarah's cats. It didn't get done in time for Christmas. But as things sometimes happen, it did get done in time to be presented to a groggy-on-pain-meds woman who was missing her cats and quite sick of being in the hospital. It was perfect timing and we couldn't have pulled this off as well if we'd planned it.

You can see her reaction here. She had no idea what we were going to pull out of that box. The oil painting has several more months to "cure" before it can be framed.

Thank, you, Nance, for all your talent and effort! You made Sarah very happy and brightend her gloomy day!

Here's a nice article about Nance.

Thanks for the Mwah!

First award for the Two CAT Blog comes from Laurie over at Three DOG Blog. As a Cat Person, I know I've really made it if I'm touted by a Dog Person! I enjoy reading your stories, Laurie, and aspire to write as well as you.

Thank you, Laurie! I'm tickled pink!

Mr. Hamilton the Movie Star

Part of the saga of the Computer Meltdown is the purchase of a new computer. Since I'm a Mac girl, I now have this fantastic iMovie studio in my computer.

Huh. Now I have to learn how to use it. So what better subject matter than Mr. Hamilton? It took me a while to figure this all out, but here is my first movie, all 21 seconds of it. Starring none other than Mr. Hamilton, that totally natural movie star himself. I took this over a year ago when I first got my digital video camera. Now with my iMovie studio, can Hollywood be far behind?

Oh, and yes, some day I'll tell you all about the Computer Meltdown...well, or maybe not...

Driving the Cats Crazy

I was over at Laurie's Three Dog Blog today. She was talking about how her one dog just can't stand the kitchen fan. It really drives him crazy. I got to thinking how we were driving our cats crazy this past weekend, too. Below you see Mr. Fat Tail, otherwise known as Hamilton. My cat. This fat tail photo actually doesn't relate to our driving him crazy, I'd just let him inside in the middle of the night shortly after he'd been in a scrap with something outside. Probably Diamond. See here for more about Miss Diamond.


We're driving our cats crazy this weekend because we started our Winter Project. We usually start some home improvement thing right after Christmas. Last winter we had hardwood floors put in two floors of our house.

This winter, we decided to re-tile the master bathroom ourselves. After watching many hours of rehab on HGTV, we decided, "How Hard Can It Be?" and started demolition this last Saturday morning. Hopefully those words won't come back to haunt us later this winter.

So it's officially Driving the Cats Crazy Month around here. They disappeared for the day right after we started bashing the tile from around the tub and filling trash bags with nasty old carpet from the floor. In fact, I can't recall even seeing them in there this week to investigate the changes in the room.

We got Step One done: removing the carpet and tile.


Step Two is removing the subfloor and the stoopid glue the previous rehabber put down, which may take more than one more Saturday Morning to complete. Then we move on to Step Three: putting in the Concrete Backer Board. All of this required new tools. (Don't you love a job that needs new tools?) And I'm pretty sure we will be driving the cats crazy and into hiding on many more Saturday Mornings to come.

Warren got a little "crazy" himself toward the end of the morning. But we finished Step One before noon and we're committed now...oh boy...

Miss Ellie and the Green-Eyed Monster

It's the next day. I catch Miss Ellie staking her claim to HER spot, for heaven's sake. I think she looks a bit sad here or is it mad?

Because if you look at the next photo, which happened right after I took the picture of Miss Ellie on HER blanket, she stalked over to confront Hamilton, who was stretched out on Warren's lap and legs.

Now, if you ask me, Miss Ellie looks decidedly JEALOUS here. Because Warren is her person, Hamilton is Marcia's cat, for heaven's sake. What is he doing on HER person? And if you look closely at Hamilton, he's really egging her on with his smug, proprietary attitude. I can read it all over his face. He's rubbing it in.

I guess this is entertainment in the cat world. They are having quite the time, engaged in this friendly scuffle over who belongs to whom and what belongs to whom. We try not to interfere too much. It's too fun to watch, and they say animals need stimulation. It's not like we take these two cats out on a walk around the neighborhood, like Sarah's Dan does with Henry!

Where's the Fire?

You will notice there is no fire in the fireplace, but there are two expectant cats sitting on the rug in front of the fireplace waiting, waiting, waiting... They don't understand why there's no fire beaming down its luxurious warmth to the cats on the rug. It's been sooo cold lately and every night when the humans get home, they turn on the fireplace. So how come there's no fire in the fireplace tonight? Maybe if we wait here, they'll remember, and turn it on!

They don't know it's been in the 60s and 70s outside the last three days. They don't know that a tornado ran through the county just north of us a couple of hours ago. Hamilton did climb up on Warren's chest when the sirens went off here because I wasn't home yet and he did NOT like that horrid noise. But the siren is long forgotten and now they are wondering why we've forgotten to turn on the fireplace.

BTW, in case you're wondering what you're seeing in the glass fireplace front, it's the satellite tv saying it's lost the signal. Wonder what's up? More rain? Hail? Storms? It's just waaay too unseasonably warm for cats or humans around here!

Christmas Cat Pictures

I tried all day to catch the cats in front of the Christmas tree. All I wanted was a nice cat and tree photo. Not a lot to ask, you say? Well, if you think that, then you don't know cats. They have their own minds and rarely take human requests too seriously.

I got a lot of Miss Ellie and her beautiful tail, of which she is most proud!

I got a lot of Hammy's tail, too. Not that he cares about a tail, for heaven's sake!

Hammy actually cared a LOT about playing with the camera strap.

I finally had to enlist Warren to get a nice photo of Miss Ellie and the Tree.

Hamilton eventually cooperated and I got a very nice shot of the HammerMan and the Tree.

Merry Christmas from us and the Cats!

Waving Hello to Laurie

Waving Hello to Laurie
and Other Adventures in the Twin Cities

Yup. I actually waved hello to Laurie, figuratively not literally, but waved just the same. The waving to Laurie was one simple email I managed to get out of the hospital. Their WiFi wasn't really working much that weekend, so I was happy to get one email out. Fun to surprise her with a virtual wave!

We had to make an unplanned trip up to St. Paul last weekend to be there for my father. My sister, Laura, and her husband, Bill, were also there. Actually they'd been there all week and needed us to take over for the weekend. We gladly pitched in.

Dad had some complications after a total right hip replacement. Things happen, so we were there to help him get past them. We drove up Friday and back down on Monday. Very glad we did. He needed his family with him.

Our daughter, Sarah, flew up from St. Louis and nursed her him through the worst of it. If any one was the "hero of the moment," I would say Sarah was. Really sweet to see.

I'm happy to report that my Dad is now in rehab and doing well. We felt good about leaving him there. He's in good hands.




At one point, we got to show Sarah where we met, the old Chimera Theater, now a History Museum, in downtown St. Paul. She was very interested, newlywed that she still is.

When we left for the Twin Cities, we had to try to beat the snow bearing down on Kansas City from Colorado. No snow as we turned north on Hwy. 35. Yay! We raced through Iowa, feeling the snow at our backs.

When we drove back down on Monday, the area was really strange: the ice was still on the trees from last week's ice storm and now snow was added to the landscape. Here's a photo taken from the car in the southern part of Iowa.

When I got home, it was Maul the Kitty Time. Hamilton got bunches of hugs. I always try to make up for leaving him behind when I go on an adventure. You can tell he's putting up with me, not terribly angry, because his eyes are at half-mast and his ears are forward. Cat Language, for those of you un-versed in the language of the cat.

Missouri Ice Storm

Click here: Missouri Ice Storm to see what's going on in my part of the world. The news is saying my town is the worst-hit in the state.

The cats are confused, so are the humans in this house. The world is covered in ice. Over 17,000 homes without power. We are in the third day of NO power! The darkness at night is total. Very quiet world, except for tree limbs crashing to the ground with loud cra-aa-acks.

They are predicting another inch of ice tonight. We got our power back for about a half hour last night. Then it was gone, not to be seen again, yet anyway. Pray for power, folks!

Addendum: Wednesday Morning: We have Power, folks! How precious electricity and living in the 21st century again! Thankfully, we did NOT get that extra inch of ice. Whew!

Meet H & J

Meet H and J:

Henry and Jackson are my daughter's spectacular cats. Case in point: See how much fun they have with this toy.

This is my favorite photo of Jackson:



This is my favorite photo of Henry:



Or maybe this one is:



These guys have been buddies of Sarah's for several years now. They came to live with Sarah while she was still in college. So at least 8 or 9 years, I think. They're good buds. Loyal through and through. Right now, they are still adjusting to sharing Sarah with her new husband.



Henry LOVES Dan. They go on walks in the yard and Henry never strays too far from Dan.

So far Jackson is still skittish. I keep reminding Dan that when Jackson lived with us for a while it took several months until Jackson would warm up to us. Just give him some time. Eventually, he'll come down out of "The Stacks" and be friends.



I got to loving them quite completely when they lived with us. Still miss them. Hamilton misses Jackson A LOT. they used to play together, wrestling and running all over the house. Now Hammy tries to interest Miss Ellie is playing rough-and-tumble, but--you guessed it--she won't have anything to do with this kind of play!

Miss Ellie's Nightly Routine

Miss Ellie has her own nighttime routine. Warren goes to bed much earlier than I do usually because he gets up at 3 am for his morning radio show here in town. So Miss Ellie and Warren have a little snuggle time each night. She lives for the moment that they get to climb upstairs together.

She sometimes even has to wait at the bottom of the stairs for Warren, if he forgot it's time to "Climb the Golden Stairs." Sometimes she will even come looking for him. Quite the sight to see.

Then--and this is something Warren knows NOTHING about, since he is already asleep--Miss Ellie and I have a similar routine. When she hears me about to come upstairs, she comes down the stairs and then goes back up to the top with me. Then we have our own little cuddle time.

This is why we have cats, you see.

A Neighborhood Rescue

As you can see, this is not a cat story! It's a dog story. I hope the Two Cats who own this blog forgive me! I think Hamilton will understand.

My friend, N, who lives across the street, has adopted a little poodle. His name is Rudy. She got him from a Poodle Rescue Group near St. Louis. He spoke to her heart because the photo online looked so pitiful. He's an older dog, with several issues, but none of this stopped N from saving this little fellow. You can tell by the way he stands close to her, that even after just a few days, he is devoted to her. Her kids love him already and are gentle with him. They all try to hold him as much as possible. He is settling in nicely.

I'm so proud of this family for saving such a beautiful little guy! You're the best!

Mr. Hamilton Defends His Home

The Morning Growl - Sorry it's sideways!

Hammy has an arch nemesis. Her name is Diamond. She is a semi-feral cat who lives next door. She's their Outdoor Cat. She's quite wild and has, in fact, taken a swipe at me on occasion.

She has this fascination with our Indoor Cats and visits our back deck every morning. This sends both our cats into apoplexy on a regular basis. I used to try and chase her off--hence the Diamond "swipes" at me--but now we just let the whole daily escapade play itself out. We figure since cats count on routine, it would be cruel to take this "favorite" routine away from them.

Here you hear Hammy's famous cat growl, letting Diamond know she is not welcome. Notice the way Diamond cavalierly ignores the fierce warnings of my Hammer-Man and gracefully hops up on our deck chair in disdain of Hammy's loud Caterwauling.

Moments later, Diamond has left the deck. The Morning Growling is over, and Hammy has settled down on one of his favorite Morning Spots for a long nap.

Miss Ellie and Her Morning Spot

First off, you have to know that Princess that she is, Miss Ellie is very high-maintenance. Of course, we wouldn't expect anything less, would we? Miss Ellie is a long-haired cat, which means she sheds more than you can imagine a little thing like that could produce. When she starts shedding hair in the spring, in some curious biological clock thing that knows when spring is coming, I can have a spic-and-span house in the morning, and when I get home at night, there is HAIR EVERYWHERE! Great globs and clumps all over the place. Even in the fall when her shedding slows down, bits and pieces of black hair gather where ever Miss Ellie spends her time that day.

Example: Our living room couch. It regularly needs cleaning because for some reason, unbenownst to me until this week, she loves to hang out there for a part of every day.

Yes, I figured it out, finally. And the above photo has the clue that got me thinking. The dining room window faces east. Can you see how it hits the chair and then the couch at the other end of the room? And if you look really close, you can see a little dark long-haired kitty-cat all curled up for a nice morning nap. Ah-ha! This is why I'm always cleaning my couch! Of course, I have been a cat-person all my life, so I know you can't ban a cat from anything in your house unless you have closed the door. Cats have minds of their own, especially Princesses.

So Miss Ellie will continue to nap in the morning sunlight and I will continue to clean up after her. All is right in the Two Cat House today.

Choices, Choices

So, it was 5:30 am this morning. I was trying to make up my mind. Do I blog about Miss Ellie's favorite morning nap spot or do I yoga?

Now, you might think that I would choose to blog, but actually, I chose to yoga.

Not that Miss Ellie isn't just about the cutest kitty to ever want to blog about, and not that I didn't have a great couple of shots in the camera, ready to make the blog more interesting...

It's just that my new job puts me at the computer for more hours than teaching ever did, and my shoulders and back needed the exercise and stretching that only a good half hour of yoga can deliver. So I unfurled my purple yoga mat on the den rug and worked through a great Veria yoga session and felt much better for the choice I made. I've been missing sun salutation and warrior and triangle poses for some time now. Felt good to get back on the mat. Good way to start a Friday!

Sorry, Miss Ellie! I'll post the cute photos and I'll talk about your favorite little snooze-spot--ASAP.

8 Things...

Laurie has memed me. So here goes...will try to relate these to the cats...

8 Things I'm Passionate About:

1. Hamilton, my cat
2. Miss Ellie, my husband's cat
3. Henry, my daughter's cat
4. Jackson, my daughter's other cat - she's got 2, too!
5. Lucky, my son's cat - he's only got one but he's huge, rescued from a shelter in D.C.
6. Snugball, my daughter's childhood cat - gone by not forgotten
7. Eclipse, my son's childhood cat - gone by not forgotten
8. Peaches and Popcorn - our cats when first married in Minneapolis - gone but not forgotten

(You are maybe beginning to see the 2-Cat Pattern here?)

8 Things I Want to Do Before I Die:

(I made this list out about 10 years ago and one by one, they get done!)

These are done:
1. Have an English Garden - multi-leveled
2. Have a Family Home - big enough for family members to come back to and visit and hang out and celebrate holidays in
3. Put in Hardwood Floors
4. Retire from Teaching (after 30+ years)
5. Get something published - several Americana articles in Country Decorating Magazine - this was several years ago so hardly counts anymore

These are not done:
6. Sing in Rockin' Gospel Choir - I'm still hoping for this one!
7. Own a summer home on the Michigan side of Lake Michigan - would have to win the lottery for this one!
8. Erect a Family Vacation Lodge on Warren's Family Land in South Dakota - ditto #7

Hamilton's Checkered Past

When we brought Hamilton home a few years ago, the animal shelter could tell us very little about the guy. He had been picked up by the shelter, a stray in horrible condition: skin and bones, declawed at some point in the past, but obviously running wild for a long time. They knew this by his low weight, but also because he had worms, ear mites, fleas, you name it. It took them several weeks of tender care before they could put him up for adoption.

We had just lost Eclipse, Ben's cat of many years. He had sort of become my cat after Ben left home, so I was missing his nightly visits under my legs as I sat at my computer. Soon after Eclipse's death, Warren gently nudged me to the shelter to meet a new cat.

We walked into the shelter's "Visitation Room." Bare room, windows out into the hall, shiny gray-painted concrete floor. Nothing else. An attendant brought this cat into the room. I sat down on the cold concrete and took at look at him. He was a beautiful tri-color, mostly brown and gold, very tiger-like, if you know that black and gold are Mizzou's colors. (At this time we lived in Columbia, MO--home of the Missouri Tigers.) The attendant closed the door. Warren stood off at the side of the room and let us get acquainted.

Hamilton, who had no name at the time, climbed right into my lap. I fell in love. It was that quick. Eclipse had been a rather stand-offish type of cat. Never sat in any one's lap, ever. So when this brown and orange cat with a thinnish, striped tail, climbed right into my stranger's lap, I was pretty much a "goner."

We paid the fees and took him home. Within a few minutes of his arrival, I "knew" his name was Hamilton.

Before long, we felt we had pieced together Hamilton's past. This is all imaginary, mind you, because we have very little to go on, but I'm pretty sure we've got the main details spot-on.

He was declawed when we got him. And very affectionate. Climbed right up on my chest the first night and sat down and accepted my petting. So I think he was once very loved by someone. Declawing is tough on a cat but costs money, which implies somebody cared. His loving nature implies that he was well-treated.

BUT he was found emaciated, wormy, flea-ridden, mite-ridden... So something BAD must have happened. He got out and didn't come back, but that doesn't seem right, because he is so loving, so I think he got lost. Or maybe his person was an older, retired type who died or was moved into a nursing home and Hamilton somehow got separated and was out on his own with nowhere to go. You are welcome to think up your own scenario, but I like my old lady story the best.

When we got Hamilton, I didn't want him to EVER go outside again. It's a big, bad world out there, and with his being out for so long, I worried he would never come home to me and couldn't bear that thought. So Hammy stayed in for many months. And we got to be the best of friends.

But come spring, Hammy got insistent that we let him out, so eventually we did. And his favorite routine, still is, actually, was to leave after dark, run and hide somewhere, and come home before dawn, let in by Warren, who gets up early so he can get to his Morning Drive Radio Show.

If Warren missed letting him in, which happened on weekends sometime, Hammy would not come in if it was light out, still won't. It's as if he is frighted by the sunlight. This makes me think he hid a lot after he was abandoned. We found his favorite place up in Columbia was in the sewer down the street. Well, not really a sewer, more like a storm drain. Once we knew where he hid, we could coax him out of there with a can of messy, smelly cat food if we were very patient.

So I think he was very traumatized by being lost and alone in the big, bad world. And very happy to finally find a family that would take him in and love him. And the reason I know this is because Hamilton never purred when he first joined our house. It was as if the purr was scared right out of him by his experiences in the cruel world. It took a couple of years for him to find his purr again. It was quite the moment when I first heard that purr, I can tell you. Quite the day.

Now, Hammy is giving me the "signal" that it is time for his nightly routine. He hasn't started talking to me yet, but he's winding up for quite the performance. So, it's off to the door for "The Goodbye Song and Dance." My favorite time of the day!

Miss Ellie, the Princess

We discovered, quite soon after Hamilton joined our home, that he was quite different from our Miss Ellie.

One night, after we were done with our chocolate pudding, Warren offered a little dab of the treat to Miss Ellie. She daintily licked away at the spoon. When Hamilton's turn came, which, by the way he waited quite patiently for, he slobbered away at that spoon like it was the last meal he would ever have. We knew that night that we had two distinct personalities in our home. Hamilton, the boisterous young male, and Miss Ellie, the princess, royal born and bred.

Below is a series of pictures showing how Miss Ellie, the Princess, enjoys the sunshine in our den. We were out front doing yard work this weekend and when we came in, Miss Ellie was luxuriantly stretching in the sunlight. Couldn't resist snapping a few snapshots.

The Nightly Routine

Ode to Laurie's Three Dog Blog and Amy's Blog to the Bone

She doesn't know it but I'm a lurker on Laurie's wonderful Three Dog Blog. I am not a dog-person at all, but reading her blog makes me realize I might have been in another life. I love her adventures that aren't dog related, too: the Russian Series, the Birth of a Hack Series, her Family Photos Stories, and yes, I even love her Walks with the Dogs Stories.

I found her blog by skipping off a link on Amy's Blog to the Bone. I am in a new phase of my life, having just retired from over 30 years of teaching high school science. Now I work for a Paramedic-EMT Association called Memsa and I actually get breaks and a lunch hour in this job. I usually read, but one day I didn't have a book and since I've read ALL of Amy's Blog, I skipped over to Three Dog Blog and printed it out, all 136 pages of it. And I read it all, and by the time I'd reached the end, there was more up on the site to read!

So you could say I was hooked. Of course, the BIG difference between Amy and Laurie and me if they are Real Writers, and I'm a Hobby Writer. Which means I know good writing when I read it.

And Laurie got me thinking how interesting reading about three dogs and two people taking walks in the rain can be. I wondered if my very different life with one husband and two cats could be at all interesting. Not that I can compare my writing to Laurie's or Amy's. But at least I feel emboldened to try.

I have a connection to Amy because she's married to my brother, and I love her and her wonderful family. She's been a blessing for my brother and all of us in our family. She devoted her life to the girls and is just now back into a more personal adventure. I'm proud of her--to the end of time.

And I have a connection to Laurie, however tenuous, because Warren and I started out in the grand city of Minneapolis over 33 years ago. I can relate to the places in her blog, Duluth--I used to take my Hopkin's 6th grade students to a camp north of Duluth, the bridge that came down--I drove over it one month earlier while driving from my Dad's place in St. Paul to my girlfriend, Carol's, house in Richfield. She is living that alter-life I might have had, if we had stayed in Minneapolis instead of heading south in search of radio jobs for Warren.

So thank you, Laurie and Amy. I'm gonna give it a try!