It's for Charity - World Vets

MAKE SURE YOU VISIT ALL THE SHOPS IN THE 1ST ANNUAL #NIPCLUB HOLIDAY BAZZAR! tHE STAFF HAS DONE AN OUTSTANDING JOB!!!!! It is incredible the talent that is among the anipals. Be there and behold the wonder.


We have opened an Etsy store named KruseKats (big stretch on that name!). Mom is donating all profits to World Vets, an incredible organization that helps animals following disasters. In order to keep this transparent, approximately 50 - 60% of the price goes to World Vets.Mom picks up all PayPal fees, so there is no overhead for the charity.

Here is some of the great stuff you can find in our shop. And, no, neither Parker nor I am on sale although I really pleaded with mom to do something about Parks. However, we could negotiate a deal on the dog. MOL!

Mom has new pictures for the bottle caps, so will be adding more stuff!!!! Keep checking!

Feline Purrspective - Feeding the Meowing Herds

 

My homey, the STUNNING Cathy Keisha, gave me an idea to talk about how we view the world, I mean OUR world.

Food, glorious food! Is there anything better? Our feeding ritual is kibble at the ready and a bit of wet food twice a day. We eat on the counter, I am on the left hand of the sink, Parker on the right. Dad feeds us in the morning, and his time is very consistent.

It is the afternoon feed that needs a bit of timeliness. As far as I am concerned feeding can begin at 12:30 pm. Mom doesn't think so. she says it has to be at least 2:30 - 3 pm. Why? Is this some human foible? Even Dr. Pepper back in the day had 10, 2, and 4 on the bottle? GET A HINT!

So, I start the endearing starving kitty routine at 12:30 anyway. Oh, life is so cruel. insert plaintive meow here. Sometimes I can get Parker involved in the schtick.Mom just melts when he head butts her. But, she holds firm.

So, I start the winding around the legs bit. That is particularly effective since Mom can be a klutz. She says she got us big cats so she could see us on the floor. She has been known to accidently drop kick a cat across the room when in the way.

You know what she does then? Waits a bit when I am resting my eyes, and THEN calls us to supper. GEEZ.

You know what the worst part is? they actually use the counter for quilting! It interupts our jumps. So, we sleep on it. Ha!

Thanks CK for the great topic!

7 Things about Parker and Maggie

I promised my homey @cathykeisha that I would do her 7 things post. Make sure you go see hers, http://www.stunningkeisha.com/. She is an amazing complex cat, and I am proud to call her Homey!

7 things about Parker:

1. His breeder had 2 litters of kittens at the same time. He only had one sister, and aren't they adorable at 6 weeks old?

2. Parker has to have a clean litter box. So, when mom realized he would be a big brute, she got him a concrete mixing tray. As soon as it was filled with litter, Parker jumped in laid flat on his belly, and got the big grin while he looked around. He had a cartoon bubble above his head that said, "mine, all mine".

3. Parker lays on mom's pillow and makes a nest in her neck. He gets his claws trimmed every couple of weeks. Go figure.

4. Parker's favorite toys are: springs and boinks and kragonfly from BabyPatches. A straw from CircleK will do in a pinch. His fave thing is to put the toy in mom's purse and dig it out. Most times he leaves it in the purse for her tofind later.

5. When Parker was 9 months old, he let a 2 year old girl play wiht him and never hurt her. However, he was visibly absent when she arrived the next day.

6. Parker is very intuitive about people's moods. When mom is upset, he lays on her lap. this is Momma's Day 2012.

7. There are some human foods mom lets him have: green olives and pimentos, canned mushrooms, lunch meat, turkey on thanksgiving, and sometimes chicken.

7 things about me, Maggie:

1. I was a singlet and my momma couldn't take care of me since the cattery was crazy. So, I was bottle fed. Because of that, I didn't have the protection of clostrum, and I got conjunctivitis. Luckily, I can see fine in my left eye, but my nasal passages are scarred. I occasionally get nasal gunk, and I sneeze green snot on mom. This is my momma, not me. she's a champion kat.

2. I am very shy and tolerate Dad, Aunt Denise, and the neighbor. I love mom, Nice Grandma, Grandpa, and Niece Molly. I never show up at family gatherings.

3. I could have been a show cat, but my tail got kinked probably from a dog walking on it. I have so much fluff you can't tell. My tail is about 18" long!

4. My coloring is described as dilute blue tortiseshell with a split face. And, I have the Tortie-tude to go with it! Just ask Parker. Mom says it is just vocabulary, and even I admit I have never drawn blood.

5. I am really tired of Parker's attitude about boxes, carboard or litter. Even if we had 10, he still wouldn't let me use any. What a prima donna.

6. If there is anything to sit on, you can bet I will be there!

7. My human food choices are black beans, canned mushrooms, lunch meat, turkey on thanksgiving, and sometimes chicken.

BONUS FACTOIDS! OUR NAMES EXPLAINED!

Mom is a big Steely Dan fan. So, we were both named after someone in their songs.

My (Maggie) registered name is Coonbitztky Sugar Redox. The first is the cattery. The second is because everyone at the cattery called her sweetie. And Redox is a chemistry geek thing. Redox is a reaction where there is a loss and gain of electrons. Mom figured that the cattery's loss was her gain. Duh.

Maggie is from the Steely Dan song, "Peg". Peg is a nickname for Margaret as is Maggie.

Parker's registered name is Tanstasfl Parker Chromium VI. Again, cattery name, parker, and chemical related factoid related to redox; chromium in the VI oxidation state is red.

Parker is from Parker's Band which refers to Charlie Yardbird Parker, an inovative Bebop alto sax player.

Thanks everyone for playing!

Thankful Thursday - Weather

I have been watching my anipals out east and hoping they are fine in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. Mom caught a bit of Hurricane Irene last year at BlogPaws, and was awestruck by the force of wind. Here in St. Louis we have wind, but it usually isn't prolonged and it involves some tree branch coming off a tree. What we do have are floods which can last for weeks adding a prolonged stress aspect.

Drawing from Lewis and Clark

St. Louis is at the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers. These 2 rivers carry the melted winter snow from the north which can cause flooding around April. Our cities and towns have built levee walls to protect them from the raging waters. One unfortunate aspect is that the levee systems create a channel forcing the waters down stream looking for somewhere to break loose.

Looking upstream, Missouri on your Left, Missippi on your right.


In 1993 a number of environmental factors came together and caused a 500 year flood. The effects were felt from at least as far west as Kansas City (Missouri River) and farther south along the Mississippi. The peak discharge in August 1993 was measured
at 485 million gallons per minute or 1,080,000 cubic feet per second—a rate sufficient to fill the old Busch Stadium about every 65 seconds.

Mom works at a manufacturing facility along the river just north of the Arch. There was a sand boil at the north property edge. Sand boils occur when water under pressure wells up through a bed of sand. The water looks like it is "boiling" up from the bed of sand, hence the name. (Wikipedia) Pretty scary stuff. They estimated that if that didn't hold (remember this was over 144 days!), the water would flow at least 2 miles inward from the levee and affect the ENTIRE city along the riverfront.

Obviously, the Great Flood of 1993 is something the residents of Missouri will never forget. However, we are greatful for the lives we were able to save, and the lives we have struggled to maintain and improve. That is the take home message - adversity is the brain child of perseverence.

Now, don't get mom started on the New Madrid Fault and the earthquake that will affect all of the Midwest!

Here are some pictures to give you perspective.

The Arch looking north under normal conditions. You can see Eads Bridge.

Eads Bridge, Flood 1993
Eads Bridge, 1993. Note the statue barely above the waters.

Eads Bridge in the winter. Note the statue in full.