Cats and Mysteries

Hi Peeps!!

Nothing like a good mystery book and a niptini to make a guy relax in the evening!

I think all of us are familiar with a lot of the authors who have great series written that include cats in the cast of characters.  There are some especially fun mystery series involving cats who actually help with investigating!   Mom likes to read those.   However, when my Mom decided to WRITE a mystery wanted the cat in the book to be just  a companion for the main character rather than a partner helping to actually solve the crimes.

Enter Eddy the cat………..he’s the companion to Bailey Ferrol, young female private investigator in the small Virginia town of “David’s Bridge” (yeah – the name of the book is The Mystery of David’s Bridge…..get it???).

Yes there is a bridge in the town of David’ s Bridge and yes there is a mystery involving something NEAR the bridge……….but you need to read the book to find all that out.  What I REALLY wanted to talk about is Eddy the cat and how the “real” Eddy the cat inspired Mom’s cat character.

The “Eddy” who inspired my Mom!

You all know by now that Eddy was the “before me” cat in my Mom’s life.  The day after my Mom’s Dad passed away Eddy decided to adopt my Mom – he was a stray in her old neighborhood and Mom was sitting on the steps in front of her house that morning and here came Eddy – he gave her a big head butt and lay at her feet looking adoringly up at her.  Anyway, after investigating his circumstances, she found out he’d been abandoned so that’s when Eddy (at age six or seven) came into her life.  Later when she and my Dad built a new home in the country (where I live now) Eddy came along and lived out his days here.

The Eddy in Mom’s book has some endearing qualities too……..for instance he sleeps with Bailey in her cozy attic bedroom and follows her everywhere when she’s home.  He has a basket by the fireplace in Bailey’s living room and Bailey is constantly finding “treasures” that he’s either brought in from outside OR “borrowed” from Bailey’s room…….or in one instance, REMOVED from her favorite comfy bunny slippers (Bailey finds the ears in Eddy’s basket at one point!).   When Bailey’s had a bad day – Eddy’s there to make her smile.   (BY THE WAY CATS – that’s what we do right?  Keep our humans smiling?????)   Eddy even passes judgment on some of the men Bailey has as friends – he knows when someone is dangerous and he knows when someone is “on the up and up” and in fact when Bailey really does find a good guy and starts dating him, Eddy makes it clear that he approves!

Eddy is Bailey’s “soft place to fall”……………the live of a private investigator can be rather dangerous (as you see in the book) and busy so as Bailey’s cat, Eddy keeps the home fires burning and gives her the love and affection she needs greeting her when she walks in the door after a long day helping the police on a case or investigating something on her own.

In a book full of mystery and intrigue – scary situations and tense action – reading about Bailey and Eddy’s relationship gives little moments of fun before the next round of excitement hits!

Mom had intentions of writing a sequel after this book first came out a few years ago – she even started writing it and then became sick and had a year of treatments which kind of left her not interested in writing anymore.  A very NOT HAPPY situation for her as she loved writing.  Guess what – in the second book (the one she didn’t finish writing), Eddy comes through the cat door one day in Bailey’s house with a tiny kitten that was abandoned by it’s Mom…….Bailey bottle feeds it – and know what she names it????????????????  SAMMY!!!!!  Yep – I was going to be one of the STARS of the second book.  Well, Mom still has that old manuscript and who knows – maybe one day she’ll feel like finishing it (and the other novel she had started which wasn’t a “Bailey” book).  Meanwhile she helps me write my blog……….SO she’s still writing!

If your human likes mysteries – especially with cats in them (!!) – give “The Mystery of David’s Bridge” a try.  It will be back in print soon but right now it’s available on Kindle (there’s a link to it on Kindle on the RIGHT side of my page here!!).

I can highly recommend it………………(tee hee).

Happy Friday………….

Kitty Hugs, Sammy

Pee Ess………….tomorrow is Caturday and I have some Award Catching Up to do!   My buddy Misaki gave me a couple of awards this week and I’ll thank her properly tomorrow!

Whew! Pawties, Auctions, WOW

Hi Everybody!

Well, the month of May is slowly grinding to a close.  We here in the USA will be celebrating Memorial Day this coming Monday and that means a long weekend for people who NEED long weekends.  Around here, where my parents and I are in “retired and loving it” mode, every weekend is long and every weekday is long – so it’s no biggie.  There ARE things that we specially think about on that day but I’ll blog about that then.   Meanwhile, there’s some other FUN things coming up!

WHAT?

Well, first of all my very good buddy Henry from My Three Moggies is having a birthday!  His birthday will be on May 31st so put that one on your calendars.   Woo Hoo!

THEN, even though it’s not REALLY in May, it’s darn close so I’m telling you now in case you didn’t know, Odin from Cat Wisdom 101 is turning THREE on June 1st but his birthday pawty will be on June 3….pencil THAT one in too!   In case you don’t know Odin, he’s one of my heroes – when Miss Layla found him on the streets in NYC he was a tiny guy with a VERY bad eye and when she took him to the vet they said it had to be removed.  Odin the one-eyed wonder hasn’t let that stop him for one minute.  You can read his story on Miss Layla’s blog.    YAY!

We heard from Mollie yesterday that the big blogville “rally around Leo” auction and raffle that she was the hostess of was a BIG success.   Misaki was a huge help to Mollie too and everyone who chipped in at all for any reason to pull this big event off deserves a BIG SAMMY HUG…………but also if you stop by Mollie’s blog you can take the WAY WAY cool Badge that Misaki and her Mum made for all those who helped in the effort to raise money for Leo.   The auction and raffle brought in somewhere in the neighborhood of $400 and that we hope will help with Leo’s vet bills.

I’m proud to display my badge – my Mom and I donated some items to the auction !!

So what else happened yesterday you ask?   Mom went shopping and came home with something she had to HIDE in her office so Dad wouldn’t want her to SHARE.  Tee Hee   Mom has a sweet tooth and probably shouldn’t eat anything sweet but honestly, I think I can understand WHY she had to have what she got.  See, our Hallmark store sells fudge…….extremely yummy fudge according to my Mom.  Today she was there doing some shopping (not for fudge) and they had JUST loaded up the fudge counter with fresh stuff.   Easy, my cheesecake friend, know what the special fudge of the day was?

LEMON MERINGUE CHEESECAKE FUDGE !

Mom bought a half a pound weight of it all sliced up and ready to gobble down.   Well, I tried to keep her from going nuts but she almost ate HALF of it before I convinced her to tape the box shut and hide it from herself – much less from Dad!    I can tell you this – I certainly didn’t WANT any of it (nor should I EVER have any of it because of the sugar) but it DID smell good…….it really did……….

Gee, that smells delightful Mom!

So of course even though she finally STOPPED eating it I had to keep a close eye on her whenever she was on the computer today……………fortunately I can see/watch her from three feet away when I’m in my afghan tent!

No you don’t Mom – I’m WATCHING you!

Yesterday afternoon Mom and I got a BIG SURPRISE too!   Our friend Michelle from My Three Moggies sent ME (yes ME) a special present – a surprise she said she was sending me that would be something she got in Japan on her trip (remember her Teaser??).   I was SO excited!

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Thank you Miss Michelle for the lovely (and tasty!) package of things from Japan.  Mom says she might make a small pillow AND scarf from the beautiful material and I only get ONE TREAT every few days because I want them to LAST!!!!   BIG HUGS FROM ME AND MOM….

Well, that’s about it for today guys…………..tomorrow I’m doing a special post all about my Mom’s book and the role Eddy the cat plays as the “sidekick” to the main character, private investigator Bailey Ferrol.  My Mom says she doesn’t know what she’d do without ME………..well Bailey says the same thing about her cat Eddy!!

Have a great Thursday – see you on FURRRRRIDAY!

Kitty Hugs, Sammy

Teaser Tell All

 

Helllloooooooooooooooo !!!

Bet you tuned in this morning to find out WHO guessed the Teaser yesterday correctly right? Well, I won’t make you suffer and wait – I’ll let you know right away what the scoop is………first of all here’s the photo yet again:

I honestly didn’t know there were real CLUES in this photo but those of you who have either eagle eyes (!) or the ability to “adjust” light/dark, or even have BEEN here yourselves, figured it out.

My parents were on a cruising vacation along the Rhine River and visited Heidelberg and the beautiful castle grounds one day on their tour………..this is the gate at the entrance to the castle complex.  It truly was one of the most beautiful views from on top of the hill overlooking the town of Heidelberg and the buildings associated with the castle were impressive.  Now I have to take my Mom’s word for it because I was NOT there…….I was home in Virginia safely boarded at my most favorite boarding place EVER – The Paws Awhile Pet Hotel.  They spoiled me even more rotten than I already am!

So who guessed it right?  As of time Mom helped me write this (4PM Eastern USA time Tuesday) here’s the hug winners list!

Easy from Easy Weimaraner (Easy found clues in this photo – he’s got great eyeballs!!)

Mollie from Mollie’s Dog Treats  (Mollie’s eyes were working well even after being on the computer running the auction all day Monday!)

Layla from Cat Wisdom 101  (Miss Layla has PROBABLY been here in this very spot before!!)

Animal Couriers from Animal Couriers (they’ve been EVERYWHERE!!!)

And you know what you winners get…………………………

Now, here’s something WAY WAY WAY cool that you’ve just GOT to check out!   Singer-songwriter, artist and writer extraordinaire Catherine Forsley (“Cat”) put together a really cute little cat tribute called “Inspiring Cats”  and I’m PART of it along with my buddies My Three Moggies, June Buggie, Misaki, and Alfie!   You’ve just GOTTA see it……………….CLICK HERE  !   Thank you Miss Cat!!!

I’m so flattered to be a bit of a creative effort on Miss Cat’s part…………she seems like a really super and VERY talented lady and I sure have enjoyed meeting her (Mom has too).  Her music is great.

Today we’ll all find out how the Auction on Mollie’s went so don’t forget to stop by and check things out.  We hope a whole pile of money was made on Leo’s behalf.  Leo needs all the help we can give him!

Either tomorrow or Friday I’m going to do a whole blog about my Mom’s book and the cat named Eddy who is one of the “stars” of the book………….I keep saying “My Mom’s book” but really she has THREE books.  The one I’m going to talk about is the adult mystery novel but she’s also written two childrens books.   Of course I helped her wrote those……I’m NOT just a pretty face you know! 

Happy Wednesday and concatulations to Teaser winners………….the rest of you?  Next Tuesday you have another chance for BIG SAMMY HUGS.

Love You All – Kitty Hugs, Sammy

 

Tuesday Teaser Time

Hi Everyone!   Gosh I hope you all made it by Mollie’s yesterday for the super duper extra special Auction event – WOW……things got pretty “heated” over several of the items in the Auction – bidding wars were rather exciting……………Hopefully a whole lot of money was pledged between the Auction and the Raffle to help Leo out.  We’ll probably get all that info on Wednesday after all the DUST settles!

So today is that day you all simply CANNOT wait to come every single week – Tuesday Teaser when you have to stare for hours at the computer screen trying to figure out if you recognize ANYTHING about the photos I post from my parents vacations (or sometimes a Guest Teaser!!).

This week’s might just be a BIG challenge…………..why?  I don’t think there are ANY clues in it that’s why!   Without further delay – here’s your Teaser for this Tuesday….(drum roll please)…

 

See what I mean????   No clues (at least I don’t THINK there are!!!!)

Now if you think you might know where Mom and Dad were on this particular trip – let me know TODAY because tomorrow is Teaser Tell All when I announce who the weekly group of “SMARTY PANTS” are and you will be the ones to get THIS!

AND YOU KNOW YOU WANT ONE OF THOSE RIGHT????????????????????????

Remember I told you that I had my very own tomato plant in a big pot on our back deck?  Well I haven’t told you this because it’s rained so much I’ve not been going outside much but today the sun came out for a while and I gave it the old Sammy Peek………………IT HAS TWO FLOWERS ON IT – that means at least two tomatoes might be coming along soon!  How exciting…………Do any of you have gardens of your very own?????  If you do, whatcha growing?   Hmmmm?????

HAPPY TUESDAY TEASER DAY!

SEE YOU TOMORROW…………Kitty Hugs, Sammy

Auction Time!

Hi Everyone!  So today is finally the day of the big auction for Leo on Mollie’s blog.  I do hope you’ll stop by and maybe bid on something – remember that all proceeds are going to benefit Savannah’s friend Leo who is piling up a lot of medical bills to treat his Hepatic Lipidosis Syndrome.I’m going over as soon as my Mom gets up this morning – after all, she’s the one with the money – I do have a little change in my kitty bank but Mom’s got that paper stuff along with some plastic stuff so she’s got me beat!  If you click on Leo’s picture below, you can go directly to Mollie’s!

Leo would thank you if he could !!

Yesterday we had a super lazy day around here………..it was raining off and on and when it’s like that – there’s not a whole lot we can do to keep ourselves entertained.  I was napping a lot (no surprise there huh???).

Huh? Did somebody call me???

Mom did exciting stuff like laundry – Dad did exciting stuff like – well – er – um – NOTHING.  So you see what I mean?  It was a lazy day.

One thing I DID decide to do this week on my blog though was tell you a little bit about my Mom’s book which is recently republished on Kindle.  Why?  Well, you couldn’t possibly know unless I told you but there’s a CAT in the story.  Yep – his name in the book  is Eddy and Mom named the cat after her “before me” cat named Eddy.  The Eddy in the book belongs to the main character Bailey Ferrol who is a private investigator in a small Virginia town called David’s Bridge  (which ACTUALLY is my small Virginia town but Mom changed the name to protect the innocent….HAHAHAHA).   Mom has some photos of HER Eddy and when she describes the Eddy in the book, he’s who she’s describing.

These are old photos – almost 20 years old in fact – but Eddy was a way cool cat.  He “found” my Mom in the old neighborhood where they lived.  Neighbors said he was just a “neighborhood” cat – his family had just moved one day and left him behind and he’d been on his own for a year until one day he wandered into my Mom’s yard and THAT was THAT!   He decided that would be his new home and that was fine with my Mom and Dad.

So anyway, back to what I was saying – one day this week I’ll tell you all a little bit about Mom’s book.  It’s a mystery and there’s all kinds of quirky characters and lots of action and of course A CAT !   There’s a link over on the side of this page that takes you to Kindle where you can get the book FOR CHEAP (did I say CHEAP?  Well, I mean CHEAP!).

Speaking of pets (were we speaking of pets???)….so far no sign of my friend Freddy the frog so I’ve sort of decided that he moved out of my neighborhood.  Probably hopped down to the pond two houses down from mine.  I can hear the bullfrogs making their sounds down there in the morning and for all I know, Freddy decided life under my front porch just wasn’t exciting enough for him!

So long Freddy! Have fun in the pond!

 

Tomorrow is Tuesday Teaser you know and we won’t be having a Guest Teaser this time around.  Miss Michelle from My Three Moggies is home safe and sound from her trip to China and Japan where she taped two awesome Teaser Tell All videos for us which I think you enjoyed as much as I did!   Tomorrow will be photos from one of my Mom and Dad’s vacations so be prepared…………

Now go visit Mollie’s auction now before you forget it – OK?   See you there!

Happy Monday………….Kitty Hugs, Sammy

Silent Sunday

Mom brought this IMPAWSTER/LOOKALIKE home from the street fair yesterday!

Mom – I’m WAY cuter than this pillow!!!!

 

DON’T FORGET TO STOP BY MOLLIE’S TOMORROW FOR THE AUCTION !

CLICK POSTER TO GO TO MOLLIE’S !

Well, it wasn’t QUITE a “SILENT SUNDAY” – but it was close !! 

Kitty Hugs, Sammy

Scaturday !

 

HAHA!  Kinda sneaky way to spell Saturday huh?  Well, I just HAD to get the word “CAT” in there somewhere right?

Now – where should I begin?  So much to tell you………………I think the most impawtant thing is to remind you to send me photos and descriptions of any auction items you’d like to donate to the BLOGVILLE AUCTION coming on Monday on Mollie’s Dog Treats blog to benefit Leo – the cat Savannah’s parents are taking care of.  Did you scout your humans’ closets?  Did you dig something out of a cabinet they haven’t seen in years and don’t really need?   Mollie needs auction items and I’m helping her to get them sorted.  If you have something, please email my Mom a photo of it (or them) with a short description and what you think would be a fair “starting bid”.   The highest bidder on Mollie’s blog Monday for your item(s) will donate that money to Leo’s care AND take care of sending the item to the highest bidder.  Seems fair right?  Sure it does!   If you want to catch up on Leo’s story – please visit Savannah’s blog and you can scroll back through her posts to hear all the details of Leo’s rocky life road which led him to the shelter and the vet to be treated for his Hepatic Lipidosis Syndrome.

I NEED YOUR PHOTOS AND DESCRIPTIONS BY TODAY – Mollie has to have time to put everything together so if you have items to donate now’s the time to send them to me.  Need our email?  Tell me in a blog comment and I’ll send you an email right away!

Another FUN thing to benefit Leo is a BLOGVILLE RAFFLE!   Go to Mollie’s or Misaki’s to buy a raffle ticket – and you might win an AMAZON gift card (first prize) or a cartooned YOU on a mousemat (second prize)!

I’ll have a way cool surprise to share with you next week……I’ll probably find out about it on Monday but won’t share it with you (unless I do TWO blogs on Monday which I might do!!) until Tuesday Teaser day.  We’re having a regular Teaser next week BUT I may include something extra if I get details in time.

SCATurday means bacon and if you’ll pardon me – I do believe my nose KNOWS – and Mom’s making a lot of noise down in the kitchen right now – that means one thing (well it could mean two things – like maybe she’s putting the dishes away from the dishwasher….) and that’s she’s starting to make breakfast!  WOO WOOOOOOOO

Hope your SCATurday is a super one………….because you DESERVE it!  Are you gonna do anything special today?????   

Kitty Hugs, Sammy