Tuesday Teaser and Snow!

Hi Peeps!

I had lots of comments and a few emails from everybody telling me that while you had a ton of fun at the camping trip, you really missed the Teaser last week.  ME TOO! 

So, here’s the deal – as I said in my Monday blog, I am almost pawsitive I used these photos before but cant find any evidence that I did – the photo isn’t in my WordPress media library so either I HAVEN’T used it or I deleted it…..in any case, you may remember this one –  – !!  Take a peek – it’s one place (obviously) with two different views.  Where were my parents when they got this nice view?????

Tomorrow I’ll let you know who guessed it right on the money – whether it’s because they remember it from another time I used it OR just because you KNOW!   Good luck with those magnifying glasses and clean computer screens!

What do you get if you guess right?

BIG SAMMY HUG !!!!

And, I couldn’t let the post conclude without offering some photos from yesterday morning here at my house……we DID get some snow – like four inches of it – this is how it looked as it became light enough for my Mom to snap some photos – I was asleep at the time and I napped through most of the snow. 

Back deck into the woods…..fairyland!

Down at the bottom of our front yard!

Front porch view down into the yard….was snowing hard but you can’t SEE the snow!

My big tall oak tree with a dusting of powdered sugar on it!

Mom didn’t get a picture of me with my sled although I did actually go outside at one point until the snow got too hard for me.  She decided to “make” a photo of me and my sled though – so I can pretend anyway! 

Wheeeeeeeeeee!!

Don’t forget to guess on the Teaser TODAY – – – – I will reveal the winners tomorrow. 

Happy Tuesday Teaser everybody……………….

Kitty Hugs, Sammy 😀 😀 😀

Tricky Monday

Happy Monday!  Why is it “tricky” ??  For me its because I’m working on tomorrow’s Tuesday Teaser and the photo I have in mind is ringing a bell as one I’ve used before…………..EXCEPT I checked my old Tuesday Teaser photos and can’t find it.  SO I think I’ll use it (actually THEM since I’m posting two).   If I have used them before – you’ll get your hug for sure because you’ll just KNOW where it is.  If not – well good luck.  HAHAHA

Other than that – it’s still too dark outside this morning for me to see but it would appear that the weather guy was actually right!  We have snow but it’s hard to see how much – maybe 2-4 inches though.  Yesterday afternoonwe got  a few flurries before dinner but if you blinked you missed it….no “real” snow.  So maybe later, when Mom and Dad finally get out of bed and we get this household popping, I’ll be able to take my new sled out there to give it  whirl????

Which reminds me – I have mentioned that I have the sled next to my toybox which is as you know not a “box” at all but a little red wagon.

That’s not a REAL raccoon tail by the way…..

I’m getting quite a collection of THINGS though and while this entire big house is like one big “Sammy Room”, I’m wondering if I need a bedroom of my own.  Know what I mean?  I could put my special stuff  in one room (instead of all over the house).   Here’s some of the things that would have to go in MY room:

My Grandma’s old chair with my other Grandma’s old quilt on it!

This is what I want for my wall to wall carpet…..and handy snack!

So – do you think I’m asking for too much?  Am I dreaming the impossible dream?   I promise I’d keep my room clean and straight.  Honest. The only problem I can think of might be the fact that the Monster wouldn’t be able to keep my “carpet” clean……would my Dad have to bring the lawnmower inside to mow my room???   Oh – no – never mind – I can keep it trimmed by snacking regularly!!

Problem solved…………..but that still doesn’t answer the question of “will my Teaser photo be a REPEAT!!!???”    Guess we’ll find out tomorrow….huh!

Happy Tricky Monday!

Kitty Hugs, Sammy 😀 😀 😀

Remembrance Sunday

Hi Everybody!  Happy Sunday………

Sammy most generously gave me a day to blog about a few of my past cats as a tribute to the wonderful lives they led and the happiness they brought to me.  I think of all of them from time to time.  Today just seemed like a good day to share them with Sam’s friends.

When I moved away from home and got my first job as a “government girl” (which was THE thing to do back in the late 60’s in Washington, DC) and got my first apartment, the very first item on my list of “things to do” was to adopt a kitten. As soon as I had furniture in my apartment, I adopted a little kitten from a teenager at the local shopping center who had a box of kittens she was giving away. He was a little red and white “tiger” tabby and I named him Tiger (I know….I know…no imagination right??!).

He was so nice to come home to after riding the bus for an hour every day – his little meow and soft fur……something to care for. It didn’t last long though – shortly after I got him, the rules changed in the apartment complex – NO PETS. I was heartbroken. My sister Carol took little Tiger and found him a home. I had hardly gotten to know him

A few years passed, I got married, and I moved to Florida. I adopted two gray tabbies – one named Moose and one named Michael. Sadly I have no photos of them just as I don’t have one of Tiger. I wasn’t “into” cameras at that point in my life! After a few years of bliss my husband and I separated and I moved back to Virginia but couldn’t bring “my boys”…..they stayed in Florida with a very good friend.

Not long after that, my brother and I got an apartment together and I adopted two little kittens from a litter of ferals found in an old townhouse that was being renovated. Ricky and Linda Sue were TOTALLY different personalities from the same litter. Ricky was my first real “ginger boy”…..and he was a great big love bug. Very attached to me – very sweet always. His sister Linda Sue was aloof, imminently unpettable (!) and as far from a lap cat as you can imagine but she was pretty as you can see below.

Wish the top photo of Ricky was more clear -he was more white than ginger…..the bottom photo is his sister Linda Sue

Linda had a terrible personality – biting me all the time – grumpy – refusing to use the litter box although there was no physical illness causing ANY of this…….I finally decided to let some friends who had a farm in the country have Linda – she would be the PERFECT “barn cat”……..she was quite happy there. Meanwhile Ricky grew older and sweeter and sadly developed a number of health problems and after about six months of slow decline, I decided along with my vet that he needed to be allowed eternal peace.

I meanwhile divorced and spent some time on my own……..well not QUITE my own. I got a darling little ginger tabby who I named Charlene (Charli for short!). She had Ricky’s personality – absolutely adorable. Very sweet and loving. She liked to wander the yard and wore a bell on her collar. If I shook a little bell out the door, she heard it and came running. It was our “signal”……….Charli was VERY special. I just adored her.

Sam and Charli would have made a cute couple! They look a LOT alike!

I met my current husband David during this time……and eventually we moved in together but Charli was not happy – she didn’t have the run of the house or neighborhood and was very unhappy. Again my sister came to the rescue and Charli found a new home in the townhouse development where my sister lived at the time. My heart was broken though – it was very hard to give Charli up but she really was miserable living in David’s house.

The day after my father passed away I was sitting on the front steps of our house by myself and a beautiful and very fluffy gray tabby came up and hugged my legs. He pressed his head against my knee – looked at me with his big green eyes, and meowed. That was Eddy……..it turned out Eddy had no home. He’d been abandoned by a military family who had moved away and just left him behind. I still can’t believe that people DO that sort of thing – but Eddy was a very friendly guy who’d found some kind souls in the neighborhood (I found out) who would give him scraps and he just “survived” on his own. Yet he’d come to me – made it known to me that he wanted to be mine – and he was from that day forward. My husband and I both adored him. When we moved out to the country he came along and had three years with us before he passed away.   (hard to see photos – you might be able to “bigify” !)

Eddy was such a sweet boy….I’m so glad he “found” me that day……

Then came Sam! And you know the rest.

Baby Sammy

So, that’s the story of the cats in my life prior to Sammy – – – – Sam is very special boy in many ways and perhaps is the MOST special cat I’ve ever had. He’s very tuned into me. Yes he’s a “Mama’s Boy” – – – so what???!!! Nothing wrong with that!!! He also pulled me out of a huge funk I was in when I no longer felt like continuing with my writing and painting after a serious illness. If not for Sam’s inspiration I wouldn’t have given writing “one last try”. His blog and the childrens books I’ve written are the result of having Sammy in my life.

Now that he’s getting older – just like I am – we’re quite a pair. I hope we have lots more years together. I am sure though that one day when I’m looking back at my life with cats, HE will be “THE ONE” I remember most………my little formerly feral, polydactyl ginger boy with freckles…….

Happy Sunday!

Sam’s Mom Pam

P.S.  My very dear friend Dianna from These Days of Mine joined me today in remembering her previous cat Beezy…..you can CLICK HERE to go visit and hear her recollections.  It’s our “Day to Remember”…… In addition may I add that the idea to do the Remembrance Day was Isobel’s on IsobelandCat – she mentioned a few days ago she was setting aside today to remember her beloved Freddy – she blogged about it HERE.

Santa Paws Forgot……

Now you’d think that the one person we all can count on is Santa Paws right?  We do our lists, send them in to him at the North Pole, and if we’re good – VERY VERY good – Santa Paws brings us lots of toys and goodies on his sleigh right?  

Well, I had a big surprise the other day.  When I came down to breakfast there on the floor was a package wrapped in Christmas paper!  Yes!  Nobody knew how it got there – least of all ME since I’m usually sleeping in the room where the fireplace is (and we all know that’s how he comes into our houses right??).  Anyway, I ripped the paper off and here’s what I found!

WOW! My very own sled!

 

This sled smells like Santa’s Workshop! It must be true! Santa brought this for me!!!

There was a note tucked inside that said:

“Dear Sammy…….I asked my special delivery elf department to rush this package to you ASAP because as they were doing routine maintenance on my sleigh, they discovered a package that had slipped out of my bag and out of sight in the sleigh!  It was tucked behind the seat where nobody saw it until the upholsterers were ready to recover my cushion with new leather.   I’m so sorry you didn’t get this present from me on Christmas morning with all your other surprises.  I do hope you will forgive me.  It will NEVER happen again.  I even asked my good friend Mother Nature to make sure you had a few extra snowfalls even though it’s Spring just so you could use this!!

Yours Faithfully,  Santa Paws”

WELL!  That explains why we still have winter weather doesn’t it?!  Don’t you just love my sled?  I sure do!   YAY SANTA PAWS!

How would you like to know who wrote the very last of the poems submitted for the Scariest Poem at camp?  Well, here’s the poem and it was submitted by my friends at Hutch A Good Life, Nutty, Basil, Nibbles and Buddy. 

It was a dark and a grey sort of day,
Like the ones whee always hate,
A group of friends were going camping,
But one of them was running late.
“Sorry,” cried the latecomer in gasps,
Dashing up with just seconds to spare,
Begging they forgive him this time,
As a gorilla had stolen all his underwear.
Now you may well go ahead and laugh,
Oh how his friends, well they certainly did,
But they did not notice they were being watched,
By something which behind a garbage truck hid.
The trip to the site was surprisingly merry,
They all sang as their leader strummed at his guitar,
And one tried out his skills on the violin,
It was so bad they almost jumped out of the car!
When they finally reached the old woods,
Night had already begun to fall,
They set up their tents at top speed,
And set a fire as the air began to cool.
They chatted as they ate their dinner,
Enjoying candy bars and toffee sticks,
And one, the ever hopeful Romeo,
Tried to charm the ladies with his magic tricks.
After one particular failed magic card,
They heard something move in the trees,
“Is it magic?!” asked someone quietly,
“No don’t be silly,” another did tease.
But the rustle continued and got closer,
And the friends moved into a huddle,
Wrapping paws into paws and fur intertwined,
In a very strange sort of a cuddle.
It was a week later when the site was found,
After a ranger wondered why no one had returned,
He was surprised to find the suitcases still there,
But every single special tent had been quite burned.
No one knows what happened to those friends,
But they say if you stand beneath those trees,
You can here them calling for help,
And a eerie rustling sound on the breeze . . .

WHAT A FABULOUS POEM!!!   Now that you know who wrote each of the poems you had to choose from to vote for during the camping trip you see what very talented blogging buddies we all have don’t you! 

My sincere thanks to all of you……….all the poems were fabulous!

Now – I’m going to have a fabulous Caturday admiring my sled – how about you?????

Kitty Hugs, Sammy

Monster Day

Yep – it’s that time again………sure gets here fast these days – housecleaning day at the Kimmell House.  I will be spending it in one of my two usual locations – – – either peering over the bannister upstairs spying on Mr. Monster doing his thing downstairs OR I’ll go all the way down to the basement where it’s quiet……

Ha! The Monster can’t get me upstairs!! It’s a good place to SPY on it though……

Now, I’m going to print another of the entries we had for the Scariest Poem contest at Camp.  Did you guess when you read it originally that this one was from Mollie?????

MOLLIES SCARY POEM

The forest was dark and quiet

A fire was burning low

The dogs and cats who gathered

Sat round the eerie glow

“ What shall we do now” said Easy

I’ve brought my Violin

Perhaps you’d like to have a dance

Or maybe we could sing

No No , let’s have a story

Said Sammy the cat

It’s Mollies turn to tell one

They all looked to where she sat

Well, it was a cold December day

The pond had frozen over

Lot’s of us were skating round

With me and fat cat brudder

On we went, we formed a line

And I was at the back

Suddenly there was a noise

And I fell through the crack

I heard the cries and frantic screams

All going through my head

It was so cold, I couldn’t move

I knew I’d soon be dead

But then I heard the engine

Of my best friends garbage truck

My Gorrilla pal, old Candy Bar

It was a stroke of luck

Grab a hold, I’ll pull you out

Oh thanks I duly cried

I’d forgotton that my dearest friend

A year a go had died.

*********************************************

Good job Mollie!  We loved this one.   Thanks again for entering the contest.  It was a toughie wasn’t it?  All of the competitions were tough!

Speaking of competitions – you kids who won the three competitions (Misaki-scary poem, Savannah-tent decorating, Zena-scavenger hunt) – Mom mailed your surprise packages off to all of you today.  Please let her know when you’ve received them – we always worry about stuff we send out – especially to FAAAAARRRRRR away places!!! 

We all love surprises………..I remember at Christmas when I got this PAWSOME surprise package from the ASPCA which I won on Cody’s blog!

I love surprises!!

I got another big surprise a few days ago and I’ll tell you about it tomorrow on my blog.  Let’s just say it involves a package that Santa Paws FORGOT to leave me when he came at Christmas!!!  It supposedly fell out of his bag of prezzies down into his sled and he JUST found it and delivered it to me a bit late.  (I’m still deciding whether I believe that or not!!).

Have a PAWSOME Non-Monster Friday

Kitty Hugs, Sammy 😀 😀