Who let the cat out? Who? Who?

Fish is out of his confinement pen! Dr. Jen said his x-rays showed healed bone!

He's running around singing!

I am so happy!

I have my Fish back!

Whistle

SMELL MY BIRTHDAY BREFF!!!

We got canned Cat Food for our birthday dinner tonight!!! Never had it before! DELICIOUS!

We got snacks like New Zealand Venison Jerky!!!Greenies!!!CatBerry!!!Cat Coat!!!

We got catnip candy bars! Furry mice! New Collars!!! We got birthday cards from Josie and Boudreaux! LittleManKitty sent beautiful catnip candy bars, cat cookies and furry mice!

We got pieces of leather string to chew! We got everything a good cat could want!

I HAVE CAT COOKIE/CANNED CAT FOOD BREFF!!!!!!!!!

We got new collars! We look very handsome and catly! We are 2!

Burp,

Whistle

Almost here!

Our birthday is tomorrow! We can't wait! Mary Beth sent us Jerky for Cats but we can't open it until tomorrow! We got cards with our names on them! One for me, one for Fish! We get to open them tomorrow!

We will be 2! Two years old! We'll be able to have our own Netflix queue! We'll get to go to the big doctor and not the pediatric vet. Good for us! Our pediatric vet and our big vet is Dr. D.!

We'll get to run everywhere in the house and even the mantle in the family room! We can chew tassels off our Dad's loafers! We'll get to do everything!

I just know it!

Whistle

How We Got Our Names

I've been thinking lately about the people I meet
The carwash on the corner and the hole in the street
The way my ankles hurt with shoes on my feet
And I'm wondering if I'm gonna see tomorrow.

Father forgive us for what we must do
You forgive us we'll forgive you
We'll forgive each other till we both turn blue
Then we'll whistle and go fishing in heaven.

I was in the army but I never dug a trench
I used to bust my knuckles on a monkey wrench
Then I'd go to town and drink and give the girls a pinch
But I don't think they ever even noticed me.

Fish and whistle, whistle and fish
Eat everything that they put on your dish
And when we get through we'll make a big wish
That we never have to do this again again

On my very first job I said thank you and please
They made me scrub a parking lot down on my knees
Then I got fired for being scared of bees
And they only give me fifty cents an hour.

Written by the John Prine, a fabulous human being.

Guest Blogger: Fish

Dear Friends,

Monday is my next appointment with Dr. D. my vet. I'll have x-rays taken to see if my leg is healing with the new pins and graft. I know I'm doing well because I walk on my hurt leg and put pressure on it. My leg doesn't hurt.

I'm ready to leave my hermitage and return to the world! I've spent time meditating, thinking, contemplating, reading and having deep thoughts. Now it is time for me to leave my confinement pen and race around the house like a crazy cat. Really.

Thank you for praying for me. I know your prayers helped me heal and continue to do so. Thank you for my birthday presents and for putting up with my brother.

Whistle is cruising for a bruising. As a Brother, I shouldn't let him get on my last nerve. He sticks his paws into my pen to get my cat crunchies. He grabs my tail when I stick it out of the cage (like when I'm sleeping). He gets to sleep with our people in their bed and I can't.

Just so you know,

Fish

Shhhhhhhh! Don't tell anybody!

Littlemankitty sent us a birthday box! Mom opened it to see who sent it then told us we couldn't have it until our birthday...

I got into the box and found a furry mouse toy! Greenies! Cat Crunchies! Catnip Candy Bar cat toys! All from my Cousin LMK!!!

Mom saw me with a spit-drenched furry mouse!

Then I told her I needed to have a Cat Crunchy! It's a new kind! I got one and so did Fish!

Are birthdays the best or what?

I'll be TWO YEARS OLD on Tuesday! So will my brother Fish!

LMK, you are the best!

Love,

Whistle

Dear Melech,
You are a great kitten! We all think so! You sent us cat cookies! We love them and got our Mom to buy more for us. Even our nanny, Sister, likes the cranberry cat cookies.

I hear that you are using your feet and paws funny around your litter box! This is great! Keeps the humans on their toe pads wondering what you are doing. Our forecat, The Great Rusty, perched with all four feet on the edge of his plastic litter box. Sometimes he did his work inside the box, other times, he just didn't.

I have a Booda litter box with steps. I walk up a ramp into an enclosed litter box. Lots of privacy, good place to kick litter everywhere! Love it! Our Mom likes it because she doesn't sweep up kicked litter everyday. Because the Booda is like a lil' round house, the litter stays inside of it. The steps knock off the litter crumbs when I leave the Booda. I think I heard LMK has a Booda, too.

When Fish gets out of his Hermitage, I'll share the Booda with him, or so my Mom says. He may have to get his own! A cat likes his own place to return to the earth what came from the earth (see my poem, "Bitter Litter" from my book, " Fish's Greatest Poems and Quotes: One Cat's Perspective on Life, Naps and Cookies", InterVarsity Press, 2007)

Anyway, you are a great kitten and I'm sure you are helping your Mom feel needed. Be sure to learn to sit on her lap and make her calm. This is holy work and one of the reasons God called us to be Preacher Pets.

Peace of the Paw,

Whistle

Party Animals Cat Cake

This is NOT the cake I want for my birthday. This is a cake for people. I want a cat cake!

How to make a Party Animals Cat Cake: take a can of great canned cat food, open the can, let it fall out onto a Wedgwood or Doulton salad plate (really, I want a Lynn Chase wild animal plate but we don't have one), place two birthday candles into it. One candle is for me; one is for Fish and we make are two cats so it works! Serve cake to me first, then Fish...

Why Party Animals Cat Cakes are the best: because getting wet canned food is a very special treat.

My Birthday is the 28th. Eight days from now I will be two years old. Fish will be two, too. He's my brother.

Have I mentioned any of this before?

Purringly,

Whistle

Eleven days, count em', 11 days until my birthday! I'll be two! That's 2 big old just-about-grown-up years old!

Fish's birthday is the same day. He was born first and weighed more than I did. Now I am bigger than he is but he lost weight when he hurt his leg. He's gaining it back in his new persona, I mean, catsona as Brother Fish.

Almost my birthday!,

Fish

P.S. My Aunt LLS in NC says she can't believe we are having another birthday. She said we just had one. Mom told her, "No, Whistle talks about it all the time, year-round."

Boring!

Boring, boring, boring!!! Whew! I'm sick of my brother, Brother Fish, blogging here. Get your own blog, you slacker cat!


Fish is BORING!



Let's discuss something we are all fascinated about: MY BIRTHDAY IN 13 DAYS!!!
Yippee!

I'm sending out invitations. Mom says I may invite whoever I wish but to remember that far away pet friends won't be able to come. That's OK with me! I just want other animals to know I love them!

Guest List for Whistle's Birthday Party (and Fish's....)


All of my RevDog and RevCat pals!
Dibley
Assumpta
Chubby the Squirrel out the kitchen window.
Gypsy the Cat
Border Collies down the street

and then, I'm inviting humans who sound interesting:

Miriam Webster, she knows words
Warren Peace
Chester Drawers
James Herriot
Dr. D., our vet
Whoever it is who owns the Greenies factory

Can you think of anyone else for my guest list?


Did I tell you that Mom is ordering a canned cat food cake from Party Animals Bakery? Yummy!

Love from your Favorite blogger,

Whistle

P.S. Have you bought my gift yet? Not that I'm asking for one because I'm not supposed to ask for gifts and I wouldn't think about asking for a gift even though my birthday is in 13 days.

Guest Blogger: Fish the Cat

Excuse me, I made a mistake. Pages 5-7 were stuck together! I can't be St. Fish! I have to be Brother Fish.

The book, A Cat's Guide to Being a Monk, says that I can't be a Saint while I am alive. My Mom is the exception because, well, she's just a Saint...

Anyway,

Call me Brother Fish.

I have to get initials after my name now. Let me go check the book.

Holy and getting better at it,

Brother Fish

Guest Blogger: Fish

Dear Friends,
As you know, I've been in confinement for years so my fractured-three-pins-added leg may heal. I've had a great deal of time to think.
After much reflection and reading, I've decided to become St. Fish. I discover that I am a contemplative cat who likes to meditate under my turtle quilt. During meditation, I realized that I do not miss television, my ipod or watching bird videos. Instead, I've discovered blessings in the quiet. My "cage" has become my hermitage. My time "apart" are refreshing moments when I can think deep thoughts about my food bowl, my paws and life itself.
Therefore, I have taken the name, "St. Fish", to honor my Mom and in recognition of my new monk self. I can't figure out how to tonsure my head so I believe my shaved back leg will serve as my "monk's mark".
Please, no more gift cards for downloading iTunes or frivolous cat toys (except catnip mice). I do accept cat cookies because a cat who can't enjoy cat cookies has poor theology.

In Quietness and Rest,

St. Fish (do you recall that my birthday is 14 days from now?)

Dear RevCats and RevDogs,

It is time for us to plan our retreat. My mom won't come home from Hogwarts. Ouzo is eating jelly off a bagel and Mel is taking clothing out of drawers. I'm busy trying to get someone, anyone to clean my litterbox. Fish, mentioned at the Blogher Conference post (!) is tired of being in his confinement pen.

Molly, are you with us? What about you, dog blogger? I want Lila to come be with us, too. She doesn't blog yet.

I say we all get together, have a good sniff then go eat cat chow. Or, dog chow. We chew up a few fuzzy toy mice, hang out around the water bowl then have a meow fest and bark concert.

Are you with me?

Whistle, tired of watching RevGals whoop it up while the pets stay home

P.S. 20 days until our birthday. Fish and I will be two years old!!!!

Our Mom moved to Hogwarts and it is quiet here.

Everyone leaves us in the mornings. If my water bowl isn't filled (you know the secret hidden bowl I like to use?), I have to go drink at the kitchen sink. There isn't anyone to chase around or help do daily chores. I go see Fish in his confinement pen but he's busy composing poetry and thinking deep thoughts.

I looked at where Mom went. It looks like Hogwarts. She went there to think about preaching. What's to think about? Either preach or don't preach. That's what I say.

I'm lonely. My dog, Sister, stays outside while the Family is gone during the day. She barks to come inside when I wave my paws at her from the window. I can't open the doors.

My cousin, LMK, has an extra toe on each front paw. He can pick up quarters! He could open the doors here if he came to visit. His mom went to Hogwarts, too. Did everyone's mom go to Hogwarts?

It's early so my family is home now. I need to go meow at the bathroom door to see if the Big Lion will let me in. Then I need to put my nose on LD to wake her up.

Lonely,

Whistle

P.S. My birthday is in 21 days. You didn't hear it from me...

Shhhhhhhh! Fish is sleeping!

Andy killed a bird today. He wanted to bring the bird inside but Mom wouldn't let him. Cool!

My birthday is in 24 days, just sayin'. Drugstore.com has Greenies on sale.... just sayin'
Fish's birthday is in 24 days, too.

Mom is going away. I hate this! Who will fill my secret waterbowls in our house? Who will scoop litter twice a day? Who will tickle my tummy and tell me that I'm the cutest best kitty in the world?

Tomorrow, it will be 23 days until my birthday. I am not asking for gifts or anything, in case my Mom is reading this...

Whistle, who could eat a Greenie or two this very minute

Letters from Confinement, by Fish

Whistle here. I'm transcribing Fish's notes smuggled from his confinement pen here in Mom's Study. He says stuff and I type it.

"While it's difficult to stay in a barred cage all day and night, I am concentrating on the positives. My stitches are out. My leg is healing and although it is weak from months in a cast, I can put my foot down. Everyday my hurt leg moves closer to my body in alignment with other leg.

Healing is more than physical. I've spent time lonely and isolated from my peeps and dog. Whistle sleeps on top of my cage or next to me so I can feel his fur through the bars. That's good but I miss freedom.

I'm reading the Psalms again for comfort. I've read Buechner's "The Alphabet of Grace", "The Book of Confessions" and a book on cat health. I'd read more but I have to stare at the bars of my pen and think about freedom.

I dug through my cat litter thinking I could dig out of here but no luck. They replaced cat litter with shredded newspaper then gave up on that, too. I use a bare litter box now. I wouldn't mention this indelicate subject but here on the 'net, we tell stuff we wouldn't mention in polite company.

I have about a month left in here. Thanks for thinking of me. I think about you, too.

Love,

Fish"