Wordless Wednesday

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A heartfelt Thank you to Anita for this special award.

Visiting Australia and the Zoo

I figured it was only fair that since Mom was on a trip that I would take a little vacation myself. Huffle Mawson invited me to visit Australia and she would show me around. I am looking forward to visiting a place where the temperature is COOL!

Hey Huffle, do we get to play with the koalas and kangaroos?

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Mom called today and said she visited the San Diego Zoo and saw the gorilla, the pandas and a family of giraffes.

The gorilla was behind a glass and it was getting dark, so it was difficult to get a good picture. The gorilla walked directly in front of mom, but the reflection on the glass was terrible, so this was the best picture she could get.

The pandas were eating and it was getting dark. They were so cute!

The is a family of giraffes - the mom, dad and baby!

Monday Quote

Quote of the Day

"Who can believe that there is no soul behind those luminous eyes!" - Theophile Gautier

I am keeping Mom's place on the sofa warm until she returns.

Sadness

We want to extend our sincere condolences to Sprout's family. Our thoughts and prayers are with them at this difficult time. More information can be found at the Cat Blogosphere site.

Not So Easy Like Sunday Morning

Unfortunately, the time has come for Mom to travel across the United States from the East Coast to the West Coast for a meeting and a couple of days vacation. Her flight left this morning at 6:25 a.m. and she won't be back home until August 18!

Mom says she will try to stay in contact with me through the blog and my pet sitter, Janet. I don't know how much I will be able to visit my fur friends this week, but please come by and keep me company.

"Bye, Mom. Please hurry back!"

P.S. I think I will try to sneak in a "house trashing" party while Mom is gone! That will teach her! I will send out the invitations in advance to everyone.

Special Litter Box

Happy weekend, my fur friends and their beans! If you have been following my story for the past two months, you will know that my mom and I have lived in four different places since my "Gotcha" day. Five years ago, Mom decided she was tired of living in apartments and was ready to move back into her house that she had been renting while she was in graduate school and working at two different universities that were 1 to 2 hours away from home. This was the house that she lived in prior to her divorce, so she wanted some changes when she moved back in. At the time, she was doing a lot of consulting (she was a mathematics education professor), so she had some extra money and decided to totally start fresh when she moved back in the house, so every piece of furniture was NEW! This also included my personal bathroom (aka the litterbox).


Mom found this litterbox from the Drs. Foster and Smith catalog. It is called the "Litter Box Bench" and Mom thought it would work nicely in her bedroom underneath the window.


She was able to get a color that almost matched her new gray carpet and it fit perfectly underneath the window. It is made out of solid wood and is covered with carpet. You can specify the opening at either end of the box. The top of the box is on a hinge and you can open it for easy removal of the litter. Mom says one of the best things about the box is that it is lined with a vinyl liner that comes out for cleaning.

I especially like the box because I can sit on top of it and look out of the window (when Mom opens the blinds). Many times I will use the box for a midway jumping point from the floor to Mom's bed because she has one of those four-poster, Rice beds that is pretty high.

"Oh, Mom! Quick, open the blinds. I hear something outside."

Sorry about that. My attention span has gotten shorter as I have gotten older. Not only is my special litter box beautiful, but it is also functional. I really like my Bench Litter Box because of the privacy.

Sorry. Mother Nature calls . . .

Mom will be leaving for California tomorrow and will be gone for over a week! My pet sitter, Janet will be taking care of me while she is away. I am going to visit Huffle Mawson (and maybe a few others) while she is gone and maybe have a house trashing party. Mom has promised she will write and take pictures in San Diego and Los Angeles.

Fev-ver Friday

Hey Mom! What in the world is that pink thing that I see around the corner? Are you planning on doing a hula dance or something? Please don't embarass me!

Hmmm. Let's see. It's pink and soft. It "tickles" my nose when I get up close to it. But, what in the world am I supposed to do with this thing?


Wait a minute. Something is coming back to me from a loooooonnnng time ago when I was just a little girl. I remember something about it being fun and that I had to do something with my paws and mouth.

My human nephew, Russell used to play with me (Baby Praline in 1995) with this blue thing that Mom says is a feather!

Wait a minute, I remember! It's a fev-ver and I am supposed to attack it with all four paws and my mouth! Weeeee, I forgot how much fun it was to play with a fev-ver. Mom, where have you been hiding this? Let's do this more often.

Weeeeeee! Fev-vers!

Note from Mom: This feather has been standing up in my bedroom for over 5 years and Praline hasn't given it a second glance. I decided to pull it out last night and she was so funny. She really just looked at it at first, then sniffed it, and then she grabbed it. She didn't play as much as she did when she was a kitten (jumping and running and hissing), but I think she did pretty good for a 12-year old kitty.

T13 #4 - Surviving the Heat

Can you believe the weather report for Wednesday in Columbia, SC?

WIS STORM ALERT WEATHER
Hi 102 F Lo 77 F
Steamy and Stormy

Isolated strong to severe thunderstorms will develop through late evening, in response to this intense heat and humidity, combined with a weak boundary of drier air to the north, and soupy air to the south. Wind blowing out of these storms will then develop new storms somewhat randomly through the evening. Highs today surpassed 100º in many locations, with heat index ("feels like") levels past 105º, making for dangerous heat. The good news? Today's (Thursday) forecast is Hi 100°F Lo 72°F. There will start to be a cool down on Friday with the Hi 90°F and the Lo 69°F.

1. What is a floofy kitty to do when it is so hot that our air-condition is running overtime and it still isn't cooling. Tuesday, it was over 100 degrees outside and Mom had the thermostat set for 78 degrees, as always. When she check the thermostat, it was showing 87 degrees in the house! Oh no! This means we now need additional help with coolness. The AC guy will be here either today or tomorrow to replace the air condition motor (hopefully, that's all) and check the Freon! Mom is worried about me because she will be on the West Coast all next week and she doesn't want the air to go down with just me at home.

This is the theromostat set at 72 degrees and the thermometer is showing 79 degrees at 10:00 pm Wednesday night after the MAJOR storm went through. The thermometer was almost at the 90 degree mark yesterday. Mom's friend, the AC guy, said he would have it fixed before she leaves for her meeting/vacation to California this weekend!

2. One of my favorite spots to cool off is in front of the air condition vent in the "great room". When I sit in front of this vent, I am usually close to Couch Potato Mom watching TV and I can keep an eye on the front door while cooling off.

Blow, cold air, blow!"

3. Another cool spot for a floofy kitty is on the kitchen glass table. However, I had a problem this week because Mom has started decorating the house for South Carolina Football season and these "chicken" plates (What Mom, well they are chickens!!!) are taking up all of my room to lie down. I guess I must find another spot to cool off.

"What are these bird plates doing on MY table? I don't care if football season is ONLY 22 more days away!"

4. Many of my fur friends mentioned tile floors. I am very lucky because we have two bathrooms that both have tiled floors. What makes them more special is the the air condition vent is below the bathroom cabinet and blows direction on my as I lie down on the cool tiles until my fur is cold to the touch!

This is Mom's bathroom. I have a floofy while piece of carpet in from of the air condition vent. Mom can usually find me in this room on the floor or on the toilet seat.

5. The guest bathroom (the one decorated with the chickens!) is also great. I will lie down in the doorway of the bathroom and the vent blows across the cool tile and through the doorway to cool my floof. Mom was pushing me out of the way last night to cool off. She said something about "it's bad enough I have my own personal summers, but this heat is going to push me into becoming a hurricane." I don't think I understand.

Mom, this is my spot!

6. My favorite spot in mom's bedroom under another vent. This spot is set up just for me. To my left is my custom made litter box (I will share more about that later), my scratching post, and my Gamecock water bowl. You wouldn't believe how cool the water stays in the location.

7. Closed doors! It's so hot that mom won't even open the doors to let the afternoon sunlight in. We kitties must have our sun beams. The house was so dark, I went and found a closet to hid in. If I can't have the light, then lead me to the dark!!!

Just a little bit of sunshine, Please !!!

8. Mom says she already has too many of her own "personal summers" and she doesn't need this additional heat! I don't know what she means. Why doesn't she lie down on the floor underneath the vents like me to cool off? I've got an idea, Mom - how about cleaning off the table and let's both lie down on the glass table! In the meantime, I am going to spread out on the wooden end table and just let my paws and tails hang off to catch the cool air!

9. We could go for a ride in my Mom's COOL car! Wait a minute, that means going out into the heat to get into a hot car and then spending too much gas to get it to run. Maybe that is a bad idea! Mom is shaking her head yes and said that car needs to sit in the driveway more often to save some money.

10. We have been getting several suggestions from our friends about sleeping in the bathroom sink. I used to do that when I was a younger kitty, but it's a little easier to just lie on the floor now.

11. Accepting the fact that it will be hot and humid in South Carolina in August is a necessary fact of life. The beans drink beer, mint juleps, ice cream, and water to cool off. They even eat something called "watermelon". As long as mom keeps my water cool, I am fine.

12. As a former math teacher, mom has been mumbling something about, we could keep a record of how hot it got each day and record it on a grid. We can then keep this data for about a week and calculate the average temperature and show this on a line graph. An then, we can see if there is a linear function connected to this "trend." I quickly remind my mom that she is no longer a math professor, so we don't need to to this.


Students in mom's former classroom working on data collection. I had to whap mom to remind her that doing this again would definitely make her hot! She knows what I mean.

12. Finally, no matter how hot it gets, I still expect Mom to give me my treats! We still go through the same routine, but sometimes I get a little more because Mom isn't paying attention and she leaves the top off of the treat jar and I neak in a few more! Anything for a few more treats! Somebody keep an eye out for mom. The treat jar is open!

Note from Mom - sorry we haven't been around to all of the bloggers as usual. I have already had 3 doctor appointments this week and another one tomorrow, several meetings at work that I must attend, meeting with the computer "geek" guy for my laptop, meeting with the air condition guy, and packing for a trip to San Diego next week. We will try harder! Thank you so much for all of the visits, the well wishes (I am on round 3 of the antibiotics) and the concern. You are a very special group of cat lovers!

Wordless Wednesday

Note from Mom - it's too hot to blog tonight. It's still 80+ degrees outside and it is after 11:00 pm as I post this and we are expecting 100+ degrees on Wednesday. Praline manages to stay cool by lying down on the glass table!

Happy NOMS Day!

I don't have too many friends that aren't kitties, but I thought I would take this opportunity to introduce three of my woofie friends and human relatives who are all definitely Not of My Species!

This is Baxter. He belongs to my Mom's nephew, Russell (remember the 12 year-old boy that was holding me and showing my floofy belly) who is a big Clemson fan. He insisted on bringing Baxter down to one of the South Carolina Tailgate parties and he was the hit with all of the Gamecocks. We forgave him for wearing all of that orange. Baxter is a Shih Poo, just like Bandit.

This is Foster, (Australian Shepherd) and Sidney, (a Minature Australian Shepherd) and they belong to my Mom's sister, the doctor! Foster is very friendly and likes to "herd" everyone when they go for walks. Sidney came to live with my human aunt last summer. Sidney has two different colored eyes and is very smart and cute.

This is Bandit and Nannay. You met Bandit a few weeks ago when he came to visit me. He is a Shih Poo (half Shih Tzu and half Poodle) and came to live with my human grandmother in May. He is in his "wild" puppy stage and is wearing out my human grandmother, who we all call Nannay. Nannay makes my mom cover over every day to play with Bandit, so he will go to sleep. This is starting to cramp some of our time together, but he's pretty cute for a woofie.

Of course, I had to put a picture of my Mom and me. Mom is definitely not of my same species, but she is the best different animal to me! My Mom is truly a nice, Southern Lady who says me must be tolerant of those that are different from us and love everyone for who or what they are. I, on the other hand, being a cat, prefer the company of Mom and ME! I guess I need some politically correct training!

Needs meme

I saw this meme on Luxor's blog Saturday and it looked like a lot of fun.

The rules: All you have to do is Google your first name with the word "needs" behind it and post the results. Don't forget to tag (if you are the tagging sort)! So I Googled "Praline needs" and these are but a few of the 41 results ( guess I don't need as much as Luxor! hee! hee!)

Praline needs more exercise I beg to differ on this one! I got plenty of exercise as a kitten and I think I look pretty good now!

Praline needs a group I don't know about this one. I have found a very special group of friends here on the cat blogger. Maybe mom needs to get busier and visit more!

Praline needs a good home NOT! I have the bestest home ever with my Mom in South Carolina. Although, several moms have been threatening to pull me through cyperspace to come to live with them . . .

Praline needs no further explanation A picture speaks a thousand words.

Praline needs to focus on healing herself Sounds like a great reason to take a nap!

Praline needs her rest Yea! This Google thing really knows me!

Praline needs a mate Don't know about this one. Bhu says he loves me, but I haven't seen him in a while . . .

Praline needs a grooming I must be brushed everyday to maintain my beautiful coat. Mom came home the other night and I had some fur stuck in my throat where I tried to groom myself and Mom had to help get it out. That was scary!

And my favorite,

We cater to all your Praline needs! Hey Mom, did you get that? Where are my treats?

This meme was a lot of fun. I am going to tag Goma, Maggy and Zoey (I think this counts as two), Jasper McKitten-Cat, Huffle Mawson, Daisy, Tybalt, and Gandolf and Grayson (two more).

Easy Like Sunday Morning

I am always showing my belly on the blog and get many comments about the moms wanting to rub it. My mom thought you could enjoy a virtual belly rub today with this video. Once again, hope you enjoy my pampering and my Mom's southern voice.

Photo Hunt - Clouds

Mom was going to visit her parents one day and as she was driving past the airport (after a big storm), she saw this rainbow coming out from the clouds. She was so amazed that you could almost see where it touched the ground, so she pulled off to the side of the road and took the picture. She said when she got back in the car, the rainbow was gone.

And now for my version of a cloud -

The sunshine is shining in through the door to roll away any clouds of the day!

"Sunshine on my shoulders, makes me happy."

Okay, Mom, you can stop singing anytime! Mom says it is time to learn about the Kirby Monster and all of its special powers. She said something about cleaning up some of the "surprises" that I have left her on the carpet. We'll see...

Finally Friday

Mom found this neat website where you can upload a photo and they will sketch it out for you. You can get a thumbnail picture for free! I think I look kind of cool in "black and white".

http://www.sketchmyphoto.com/

It's been a long week and we are ready for a relaxing weekend. We hope to be able to visit more of our fur friends over the weekend while Mom is finally resting.

Treats Routine and Video

I have trained my Mom quite well! We have developed a routine every day when she comes home from work. When I hear Mom's car in the driveway, I immediately run to my scratching post to trim my claws so I won't hurt mom.

"Aw, Mom, Did you have to get my backside?"

I meet her at the door (some would say just like a dog) and welcome her with my small meow. Before Mom even has the chance to pick me up, I go around the corner straight to the couch beside my treats! Of course, Mom is talking to me the whole time and I just keep saying, "Give me treats!"

Mom has recorded a short video of the first stop to my treats below. I am ashamed to admit that I have a fur mat hanging down on my floofy chest that Mom didn't brush out before taking the video. I think she was too excited to film me in action. We will try not to have this type of oversight again. The first treats I always get are my "prescription" treats. Because of all of my floof, I have had some blockages in the past that have required some trips to the VET, so I have to have extra fiber in my diet. I just love these prescription treats because I can have up to 20 of them a day. Mom used to have to go to the VET to get these, but she just discovered they are now available on the Internet to buy. That pleases her with the high cost of gas these days.

http://www.miraclecorp.com/stewartpet/cattreat.htm

I hope you enjoy our little amateur video. Mom just loves my "little meow". If you listen really carefully, you can hear me purring the whole time I am getting treats. You must forgive my Mom's truly Southern accent!

I'm not finished once I get these treats. Mom thought she was tricking me a couple of years ago when she was a college professor. She began taking a bag of my other favorite treats back to her office in the house to encourage me to come back there with her while she was working. She just thinks she was training me - hee! hee! As soon as I get my prescription treats, I immediately head down the hallway towards her "home office" and wait at the door until she comes.

"Come on, Mom, you are much too slow!"

The office door is the last door on the left down the hallway. Mom just realized with this picture that I have left a few spots on the carpet, so she must learn how to use the new Kirby Monster. I will tell you about the Kirby Monster on another post.

Once I get inside Mom's office (she has to step over me to get to the computer because I am ready for my Topini Treats), I wait beside the BIG computer for my Topini Treats.

I have been eating these treats for a long time. Mom is constantly searching on the Internet to find these because they are not as readily available in the United States as they used to be. (Dragonheart and Merlin tell me they are in Germany. Perhaps, I should take a trip there!) There are three flavors: trout (the blue mice), cheese (the pink mice) and meat (the brown mice). I don't like the meat flavor, so Mom doesn't buy those anymore because it is a waste of her money. Mom has tried several other treats, but I will just sniff at them and look at her and walk away!

As you can tell, I am quite a spoiled little kitty, but I think I'm worth it!