Casting List

Sassy posted the cast list for CCSI III, "Missing Mummy Caper" today and our Cameron is going to be playing the part of Uncle Bill. He's trying to act nonchalant but he's so excited he couldn't even hold still long enough for Jan to take his photo this morning.

If you haven't already done so, stop by Sassy's to see which cats and dogs will be in the latest production. There's quite a cast. CrizCats wrote the script.

We can't wait until May 10 & 11. Be sure to mark those dates on your calendar.

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We are glad Moki's brother Orange Boy is recovering from the rattlesnake bite. Hopefully, Miss Crystal is resting after sitting up with Orange Boy in case he took a turn for the worse. Before long, he'll probably be boasting about his scar, showing it off and crowing, It came this close to my eye. What a scare!

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Rascal finished his chemo but Storm the Furry Fighter started back on treatments after her lymphoma returned.

Scary Eyes Contest

Deetz is having a scary eye contest on his blog. All we have to do is to post a photo and leave him a comment. His mom will pick up the photo and post it for the contest. This is our entry.



This was taken a couple of months after we rescued Samaritan and he wasn't looking too healthy yet. He has the scary eyes but Merci is sure making a scary face.

We hope you like our entry, Deetz.

Sermons, Memes & Kodak

We're late again. We are finally getting Beau's Sunday Sermons badge posted in the sidebar. If you haven't met Beau the Southern Gentleman before or visited this particular site, stop by and check it out.

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We are also late on posting the book meme after we were tagged by Archie Ann and PB & J.

Here are the rules:

1. Pick up the nearest book.
2. Open to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people and post a comment to Archie Ann and PB & J once you have posted it.

This is from A Tale of Two Sons by John MacArthur.

But sinners who repent and turn to God are fully and instantly justified, freely forgiven from the first moment of faith's inception - before a single good work is done. That was the principal lesson of Abraham's example. "He believed in the Lord, and he accounted it to him for righteousness."

Since we're late doing this, we can't think of any blog we haven't seen it on, so anyone or any animal who hasn't done it yet and would like to participate, consider yourself tagged.

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PB & J also tagged us for the Make A Wish Meme.

The Rules

1. Think about what it is that you want more than anything, what your heart's desire and fondest wish is, and what it is that you would wish for if you were to see the above wishing star flame across the night sky.

2. Right click and SAVE the blank graphic below.

3. Use a graphics program of your choice and place your wish on the picture.

4. Post the Make A Wish Meme and your wishing star on your blog along with these rules.

5. Tag as many people as you like so that there can be wishing stars all across the Blogosphere and ask them to please link back to Linda so that we can see what wishes others have made and share those wishes with others.



This is our wish:


Most of you have already made your wish, so we would also like to offer this one to anyone or any animal who would like to participate.

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Oh, and this is something else we are late posting.

Remember Clive? His mom lost him in January of this year.

Clive's mom's new dog Kodak is blogging. If you haven't met Kodak yet, you'll like him.

A JFF Package

Buddy: Hey, Fed Ex just brought us a package. It's addressed to Jan's Funny Farm. That's us. But all I see is cat litter. Where are the treats? I want treats!"

Percy: You're right, Buddy. It's addressed to all of us. There has to be something in here for you too.

Percy: No. Sorry, Buddy. Nothing in here except boxes of cat litter. No treats.

Buddy: Hmmmm. There has to be something here for me.

Samaritan: Don't forget me. Is there anything in here for me?

Buddy: Mmmmmm. Yeah. We get the box. Not bad. How's it taste to you, Samaritan?

Samaritan: Pretty good. Better than the litter would. We'll have to send a thank you card for the good-tasting cardboard.

Earth Day, A Rose And Criz

Opus and Roscoe sent us this beautiful graphic to post for Earth Day, which is being celebrated today. Stop by their place to read, "How to be a Greener Pet." And you can pick up a copy of this graphic to post on your own blog.

When we dropped by Sassy's, we learned the paws in the graphic belong to the CCSI executives: Sassy, Opus & Roscoe, Momo, Karl and Ruis.

And speaking of Sassy and staff, they are hard at work with auditions for the cast of CCSI III, which was written by Criz. This should be another fun caper.

Tigger the FBI cat and TopCatRules each posted a nice Tribute to Sassy.

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Scylla, Socks, & Charybdis presented this lovely rose to JFF, "whose friendship helps lots of kitties and doggies." Thank you for the sweet words and for the rose.

We know Momo already gave this rose to Sassy (as well as to Scylla, Socks & Charybdis), but we would like to give this to both Momo and Sassy anyway, for the support they provided recently when we were discouraged and for the delightful adventures they provide on their blogs.

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And we want to thank CrizCats for this award. It was given out to a number of bloggers for compassion during the time Mama Jessica was missing and Criz was sick with the flu.

When an animal or human is sick or a pet is missing, it isn't hard to have compassion. It could be any of us in a similar situation.

Get well, Criz. And give Mama Jessica and her rescuer Papa Jon an extra hug from all of us. We're glad the feline family is reunited.

Help Tammy Rothrock

We don't have time to rewrite this and we know that some of our readers don't click on links, so since Artsy Craftsy gave permission to post it and time is of the essence, we borrowed it to post here in its entirety and we will be emailing non-blogging animal lovers to ask for their help too.

URGENT HELP NEEDED!

Yesterday I received a Best Friends email about the plight of a cat rescuer -- located 15 minutes from me, so I contacted her to offer my help. Tammy Rothrock lives in Brazil, Indiana, where she and her husband, in their home of more than 20 years, have been rescuing stray cats and providing them with safe, healthy lives. At present, they have 31 kitties in their large home, all spayed, neutered, and vaccinated, with regular vet care.This is all being done legally: the City of Brazil issued a kennel license to Tammy last year, and the Rothrocks were in the process of organizing as a non-for-profit rescue shelter. Now the city has suddenly decided that her area isn't zoned for "business" and they've ordered her to get rid of all her cats. And they've also ordered her husband to immediately shut down the auto repair business he has operated on the property for more than 20 years!

This loving couple is using their own money to do the city's work by taking in and caring for stray animals that would otherwise be out on the streets breeding ... and instead of thanking them and supporting them, the city is making Tammy get rid of the cats she loves, fining them, destroying the family business and taking away their income ... and ultimately making them give up their family home, because rather than give up their beloved cats and their rescue efforts, the Rothrocks have put their house up for sale!THIS IS OUTRAGEOUS and I ask the entire Cat Blogosphere to join forces to prevent what their city is doing to the Rothrocks. Here's what we can do:

1) First, I ask you to please read the full information and watch the news video:

Video & TV news: Rescue Shelter forced to shut down

Newspaper: The city of Brazil has gone catty

2) Then, I hope you'll join me in immediately emailing the following city officials to protest their actions and suggest more humane solutions before their "work session" next Thursday:

Michele Altman, City Plan Administrator: michele@brazil.in.gov

Mayor Ann Bradshaw: ann@brazil.in.gov

Sam Glover, City Council Member: samglover@brazil.in.gov

Patricia Heffner, City Council Member: patheffner@brazil.in.gov

Karen McQueen, Clerk/Treasurer: karen@brazil.in.gov

3) You can also email a Letter to the Editor of the Brazil newspaper.

4) If anyone has any experience with this kind of situation and might have some advice for the Rothrocks, please email me at artsycatsy(at)yahoo(dot)com and I will immediately pass your info on to Tammy.

5) Finally, if you could put a link to this story, or re-post it on your blog or Catster, or anywhere else you can think of, it will help get even more emails to these people.

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Thank you for bringing this to everyone's attention, Artsy Catsy. We hope lots and lots of kitties and doggies will get their humans to respond and bombard the city with complaints in order to help these folks. We do ask you to be polite, though. Anger and bad words will only make the situation worse for the Rothrocks.

Update: Artsy Catsy is posting correspondence to/from the city officials here. And AC has is requesting that you forward Artsy Craftsy a copy of any response you receive from the city of Brazil because they are not being straightforward in their responses. To email AC, click here.

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Oh, scroll down if you're visiting JFF, or if you arrived by the link to this particular post click here to read the regular post for today, the after photo from Karl's party. Boy, did we have fun!

Morning After and Jessica

As you can see, we all had a whooping good time at Karl's blogoversary lizard BBQ yesterday. Everyone there had a blast. (Oooh, shouldn't even mention the word blast today!)

Photo by Sassy

We are really, really, really hoping Jan doesn't see this picture today or she'll yell at us for making such an awful mess for Karl's butler to clean up, and we just couldn't bear the noise today. Maybe in a day or two?

Right now, we need to go find some bags of frozen peas and whatever in the freezer to use for ice bags. Then we can eat the contents. Maybe some veggies will help us recover. One thing we learned yesterday, don't eat too many BBQ'd lizards at one time.

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And on a somber note, Mama Jessica has been missing for 24 hours and her kitty babies need her. Click on the photo to visit her blog.

Karl's Lizard BBQ

Today is the big day, Karl's first blogoversary party, and we popped over to help him celebrate with a lizard barbecue. What a blast! This is our first taste of lizard and we can see why Daisy is so crazy about it.

photo by Karl

While everyone else is standing in line for seconds on lizard, we decided to take advantage of the empty hot tub. What luxury! Too bad we can't all fit in it at once.

Samaritan and Buddy wanted to dive in together but we talked them out of it. It would be too embarrassing to have everyone watch them empty the hot tub after their combined weight hit the water and created a mini tsunami. Here are Cyndi and Percy showing the big guys how to properly enjoy a hot tub.

photo by Sassy

For entertainment, we have the famous #1 cat Mariachi band "Los Gatos" with featured dancer Charybdis and guest Mariachis Momo and Socks.You have got to stop by for this. They are fantastic.

L-R, Los Gatos - Roscoe, Opus, Karl, Ruis, Sassy, Momo and Socks. Seated is Charybdis. Photo by Opus and Roscoe; Charybdis, Socks, and Momo. Los Gatos costumes by Opus and Roscoe; Momo, Socks and Charybdis costumes by Momo

And more entertainment by Los Gatos...

photo by Sassy

Karl gathered us all up and had his butler take a group photograph. We aren't even going to try to explain who all 36 are individually, but we hope you will visit each blog listed below to read their party posts and see their photos.
photo by Karl

Kattenpraat, Sassy, Momo, Opus and Roscoe, Socks, Scylla and Charybdis, Charlie, Asta, Momo and Pinot, Charlotte, Riley

And now, back to the party.

Khomet

As if she hasn't had enough loss these last few years, Susan lost Khomet today. We are shocked and saddened. Susan is devastated.

Tomorrow she will have to go pick up his body and transport it home so she can give him a proper burial. We wish we could help but all we can do is send purrs and doggy kisses and virtual hugs - and Jan can pray for her. Susan is at It's Hammer, Beau's brother.

They're Safe

Update: Laura has her cats back! This is the best news!

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Earlier post:

We just checked Cat Blogosphere and found this wonderful post, which we hope they won't mind us borrowing.

Mu Shue, Lilly Lu and Iris were found hiding in the apartment by the fire folks going around checking and they’re alive!!! They were hiding and they’re scared to come out for strangers. They’re still there, and Laura can’t go in yet because it’s unsafe, but Animal Control is going to go in as soon as possible!!! Laura is picking up new carriers right now. The fire people said they’d be okay overnight if it had to be that long, but they’re going to try to get in tonight if at all possible.

Hooray!!!! We can't wait to hear they have been reunited.

Miral and Mom Laura

Miral

Photo borrowed from Sassy Cat.

After a serious illness, Miral was recently diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) and the prognosis was not good. Unfortunately, she lost her battle yesterday. We are deeply saddened for Miral's family and send our purrs and doggie kisses.

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We've had a couple of requests from non-bloggers to keep them updated, so we're going to post a little more information today on Laura and her kitty's.



Laura is at her parents' house. Her apartment is not "charred to dust," as originally reported. The fireman must have confused apartments. Easy enough to do, we're sure. The apartments on one side of her are fine, but the ones to the other side are gone. The damage to hers is mostly from smoke and water.

No cat bodies were found in a search of the apartment on Saturday. They could be well-hidden somewhere, but with the amount of smoke from that fire, that might not be good news; however, anything is possible.

The sliding door was left open when Laura left for work. The balconies overlap, so perhaps the cats were able to escape from the 3rd floor during or after the fire, and are hiding in the woods behind the building. If so, they are scared and will not respond if called, but hopefully they will be found. Laura is making flyers to post for her missing cats.

Cheysulli and Gemini are coordinating a fundraiser Auction for Mom Laura. She still has Lilly Lu's vet bill to pay, plus new, unexpected expenses. And she is expecting twins.

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We meant to post this earlier. Remember Clive? He went to the bridge in January of this year? In case you have lost touch with her, his site is still open but his mom is mostly blogging here.

Update on Cats And Fire

Update: The latest news is that the fireman confused the apartment and Laura's is not charred as originally reported. The door was left open and the cats might have escaped from the 3rd floor balcony. Or perhaps are well-hidden somewhere in the apartment? Their bodies have not been found, so there is hope. You can read the latest updates on Cat Blogosphere (scroll down!) or Missy Blue Eyes.

Lilly, Mu Shue and Iris

Many of you have read the news reports and watched at least one video of the fire that destroyed several apartments in Laura's building yesterday. It started on her floor, but she wasn't home at the time. She is safe; however, her cats Lilly Lu, Mu Shue and Iris were inside. Short of a miracle, there is no hope they survived.

Everything - "charred to dust." Even before reading this description of Laura's apartment, our hearts were heavy, expecting the worst but still holding hope.

Sometimes life seems ironically cruel. These last months bloggers have regularly checked Lilly's blog for the latest news on her health. For a while Laura despaired of losing Lilly, but fought hard and got her into Tufts for an exam and then finally she had her surgery on April 2nd. Lilly was still recovering.

Laura still owes about $4000 on vet bills and now she is homeless, still awaiting word on her beloved cats. Last night must have seemed a week long as she waited for today when Animal Control and the Humane Society were to enter the building and search. Cat bloggers are still waiting on an update. There are occasions when time drags. This is one of them.

To add to the worry, Laura is expecting twins. Like many of you, we wish we could be there helping in some way. We can only imagine what Laura must be going through.

There are a couple of links to videos of the fire on Cat Blogosphere. If you scroll down there, you can read excerpts from a chat with Deb, who has spoken with a fireman who has seen Laura's apartment.

Life can change in a heartbeat. So while you have opportunity, humans, give your kitty or doggy an extra hug and a special treat - for Laura, who would love to be holding Lilly Lu, Mu Shue and Iris right now.

Update: We just visited Moki's blog and found some news. Cheysuli and Gemini have started an auction blog to help Laura. Contact them if you have some items to donate for auction.

Been There, Done This

Dedicated to all kitties and woofies. Because if we haven't been there and done this, it isn't because we haven't been there and wanted to.

Shetland Pony's Identity Crisis

We kitties and woofies enjoy watching animals of different species interacting and having fun, so we thought we would post this video of a Shetland pony named Rory and his Labrador Retriever friends/playmates. If you haven't seen it already, you might enjoy it too.



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Haggis was spotted today. It's the second sighting this month. We sure wish he would be caught and returned home soon.

Asta's Surprise Party

Scruffy, Lacie & Stan are throwing a welcome home from Rome party for Asta - at Asta's place. You know how it is. When he returns from his trip to Italy, he won't want to rest; he'll want to p-a-r-t-y! So his friends are going to oblige.

Of course, his pawrents might have to rent a hotel room for the duration, unless they can sleep through a woofie and kitty bash.

You can click on the photo or this link and read the details. You can also post the photo on your own blog.

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The Oprah show on puppy mills in Pennsylvania was very good. Good thing we were prepared with a box of tissues handy.

Millions of folks watch Oprah and we hope at least a large number of them take the information to heart. We wish they all would.

Puppy Mills on Oprah

We don't usually watch TV but for those who haven't yet heard, this Friday's hour-long Oprah show - April 4th - is scheduled to be devoted to puppy mills, and related topics, such as adoptions, euthanasia, and spay and neuter. Check your local TV listings for the time and channel.

Yes, Oprah Winfrey will do a tear-jerker, so have a box of tissues handy.

If you are interested in reading more on this subject, we refer you to the April 2 post on Wayne Pacelle's blog, A Humane Nation.

Since Oprah Winfrey is so popular and viewed by millions, perhaps this subject will get enough exposure to prompt more people to incite legislation to stop or at least stunt the proliferation and horrors of puppy mills.