Freedom's Not Free

Today is Memorial Day in the United States and we did a Memorial Day post yesterday.  However, we like the music of The Rivoli Revue and they just sent us a link to their latest video, which  they both wrote and performed.  As anyone who has ever lost a loved one in war can attest, freedom is not free!  So we're going to post their video. We know you will like it because the words are so true.



If the video doesn't play, click here.

And Debbie Lee, a Gold Star mom, has a website, America's Mighty Warriors, which she founded after the death of her son Marc Alan Lee, the first Navy Seal killed in Iraq.  We encourage you to visit the site and look around.

Memorial Day 2010

This song, "Memorial Day" was written by Tony Mullins to honor America's fallen heroes on Memorial Day.  It's sung by Cary Rutledge.  Tony sent us a link to a new version of the video filmed at Deerlake, Montana, but, although the scenery is beautiful, the most important part of the video is missing -- those we are paying tribute to. So we are going to use the old video, the one that includes them.



If the video doesn't play, click here.

For the first time in eight or so years, Jan was unable to help the Veterans of Foreign Wars distribute Buddy Poppies on Friday and Saturday.  She says she's tired of being tired and sick!  So if you'll excuse us, we're going to go distribute lots and lots of fur around the house to remind her she's not useless.  And maybe we'd better leave the dustmop where she'll trip over it since she's probably forgotten where she put it.  It's hard when your human gets old and starts leaving her memory in odd places.  Sigh. We hate to think what she'd do without us.

Tivi, Director of Barketing

Our last post on Tivi was May 16th asking for your vote once more.  We intended to let you know he won the contest  but ... well, life intervened. We saw this today and it reminded us.  Tivi and Jon won the 2 day stay at the pet friendly resort.  And there's more to the prize.  You can read the resort's press release: Left for dead on the side of the road, one lucky dog inspires others as 'Director of Barketing' at Oregon's Sunriver Resort.

This is Tivi's Facebook page. And for those without a Facebook account who would like to follow Tivi in photos, this is Tivi's Tumblr page.

We're sorry we haven't been posting lately. So much has been happening and Jan has been sick, so we haven't had much computer time. We hope to be back to posting regularly soon.  We've missed our friends.

Seagull Steals From Cat

We're sort of back. Our computer is home and after a shaky start, it seems to be working. Evidently the video card went out so that's been removed and there are some other problems, but at least we can access our photos and bookmarks.  Thanks, Mr. Doug, for getting it running again. We think it has narcolepsy, though, so don't be surprised if it goes dead and we disappear again.  (We're kidding. Computers don't get narcolepsy. We're just trying to be polite since has a habit of dying in the middle of a task.)

Anyway, someone just send us a link to a funny video and we went looking to find it somewhere else so we can post the video instead of just a link to it.  Khyra, we can't wait to read your response to this.  :)




If the video doesn't play, click here.

Have a purring and tail wagging day.

Frankie, Walk 'n Roll Dog

Hi, this is Cyndi and today I get to do our post.

We are still without our computer, photos, links, etc, and we can't do much online. So when today's mail brought a package, we thought this a great time to do something we don't need our own computer for -- read. 

We recently did a book review on Almost Perfect. This led to a request to review a couple of books for children on an "almost perfect" dog named Frankie.  Both books are by Barbara Gail Techel with illustrations by Victoria Kay Lieffring.

Frankie: the walk 'n roll dog is the true story of a miniature daschund that at age six suffers a spinal cord injury that paralyzes her hind legs. But life goes on. And so does Frankie. She is fitted for a canine wheelchair and continues living life with zest and enthusiasm, even chasing butterflies and bees in the yard. She can do anything she wants with her new "tires" -- even ride in the basket again on her mom's bicycle with her ears flying in the breeze as they go to market.

Frankie: the walk 'n roll therapy dog visits Libby's House. In this book, Frankie and her mom become a certified therapy dog team and they become regular visitors to a senior assisted living facility where some residents are in wheelchairs, some use walkers, and some have Alzheimers or dementia. There are many joys associated with visiting a senior facility, both for the residents and for the therapy team, but inevitibly there is the pain of losing a friend.

Our Jan was an avid reader as a child and she says she can picture herself reading these books in school had they been written several centuries ago.

Uh-oh, Percy, you need to correct that typo before Jan reads it. She said several decades ago, not several centuries.

"Barbara hopes Frankie's story will teach children that no matter what challenges we face, we can still give back to the world." Frankie is a good example of this. And so is Barbara. She could have had Frankie euthanized when she was injured. There are those who would have made that decision, and we're not trying to judge them because they might be either physically or financially unable to care for a disabled pet. But Barbara and Frankie became a team teaching others to have love and compassion for the disabled.

We recommend both books. Even though we're not children, we enjoyed them.  You can purchase a book here. A portion of all proceeds from books & products is donated to disabled animal chairities.

Stop by and visit Frankie on her blog and also follow her on Twitter - www.twitter.com/walknrolldog.

Have a purring and tail wagging day.  We hope to be back soon.

PS -- I forgot to mention that we were not paid for this review, although the books were provided. Any opinons expressed are purely our own.

Cats Against Clay Winners

Okay, being that Jan is sick and we don't have a computer, we're going to make this a short post.

We put all the names of those who left a comment in order to enter in a bowl and since Sam is already an experienced name drawer, we let him pick the three winning names.  He was a bit disappointed Jan wasn't taking photos this time, but he wants to be eligible the next time the camera comes out so he carried on.

The winners of the Cats Against Clay t-shirt giveaway are --

Raymond & Busby
The Island Cats
Meowmeowmans over at Animal Shelter Volunteer Life

Would you all email us your shipping information and the t-shirt size of the human you picked to wear it.  jansfunnyfarm  @  gmail.  com  (Delete the spaces.)

Congratulations to the winners. We hope your human will enjoy the t-shirt you won. We'd like to thank all of those who participated.. 

We might be back soon but nothing is certain. 

Have a great weekend.

We Are Missing

We have been without a computer since Thursday and do not know when we will be able to return.  We are supposed to post the winners of the contest tomorrow but we're not sure we're going to be able to.  We will try. If we can't, they will be posted as soon as possible.  Our apologies for any inconvenience this might cause.

We have access to very few email addresses and no blog urls so even if we could visit, we can't find you. 

Have a purring and tail wagging day.

Cats Against Clay

Hi, I'm Rusty and I'm going to introduce today's post.

Last month we began participating in the Cats Against Clay campaign.  You have undoubtedly noticed their graphic in our sidebar. Well, the group made a video.  They staged a protest in Berkeley and as you can see, the locals weren't quite sure what to think.



If the video doesn't play, click here.

And as part of the CatsAgainstClay.org campaign, we are going to give away 3 CAC t-shirts.  They will be black with this logo.

We kind of like this logo.  I can see me raising one paw and protesting vehemently, I want feathers in my litter box! 

Cotton:  Uh, excuse me, Rusty, but why would you want feathers in your litter box?

Because I have no front claws, of course!  I want something soft to step onto and to dig in.  I want feathers, feathers, and only feathers!

Oh, sorry, I got just a bit carried away. To get back to the subject, we have 3 t-shirts with this neat logo to give away. And the good news is that if you are anyone from anywhere you are eligible to win a tee. You don't have to be a blogger or live in the US.  So, interested kitties, woofies, hammies, bunnies.... if your human is too shy to enter to win a t-shirt, enter for your mom or dad and surprise them with this fun shirt.

All you have to do to enter is to leave a comment on this post telling us why you too want feathers in your litter box. Cotton is giving me a strange glare, so perhaps the sponsors would be happier if you told us why you use a non-clay litter. Or why you would like to use a non-clay litter. Perhaps you gave it up for your 11th birthday or after you developed callouses from scratching in the hard clay. Have some fun with it.  Please be aware this is not cats against clumping litter, but cats against clay which can be either clumping or non-clumping.)

The contest will run through 12:00 am (midnight) Friday, May 21 (EDT). We will draw three winning names Saturday and announce the winners on Sunday, May 23rd.  If you don't have a blog and don't want to include your email address in the comments, make sure you check back with us Sunday because if you win we will need to contact you so we can get your t-shirt size and shipping address.

Good luck.

Have a purring and tail wagging day.

Tivi, Voting Ends Monday

We have some exciting news about Tivoli.  We've written about him before.  Percy & Tivi    Tivi has a Home     Help Tivi Win

We want to share Tivi's journey with you.  If you know anything of his story, break out the tissues because you're going to be all teary -- with happiness.  It was a long journey but filled with love.



If the video doesn't play, click here.

We have also asked you to vote for Tivi before   He is now one of 5 semifinalists in the contest and we lost track of time so we're really late posting this. But the voting ends tomorrow the 17th.  

Please help Tivi and Jon win a weekend at a pet friendly resort. You only need to vote once.  No need to sign up.  Hurry! To vote for Tivi and Jon click here!

Thanks. 

Almost Perfect

It's my turn to do a post. I'm Merci.

Back in February we posted about Rewards of Disabled Pets and Mary A Schafer left a comment, so we went by her website and found she'd written a book called, Almost Perfect: Disabled Pets and the People Who Love Them. We then posted Perfect Pets about disabled pets who are just perfect for some special human. Mary contacted us and asked if we would like a copy of her book.  Of course!  But she got busy and forgot to send it until late April.

We finished reading it last week and we want to tell you we enjoyed reading the stories of the wonderful pets and the humans who adopted them. We cried through the very first story of Tux and his one happy day of freedom in a volunteer's back yard -- something we healthy pets take for granted.

We met Colbi the blind husky-shepherd mix. And Grover the kitten with Cerebellar Hypoplasia, a subject we've written a couple of posts on in the past. And Arrow the rescued dog that was there for his human when she really needed to know she was not alone. There was Idgie the miracle cat. Krieg, the malformed and underdeveloped shelpherd whose four months to live blossomed into four years.  And even Cagney the pet rat. There are eleven essays in all; each one will touch your heart.

Each story is unique, but each story has the same underlying theme. Basically, each animal had a special need and each human who set out to provide that need ended up being blessed as much or more than the animal was. 

We think any animal lover would enjoy this book.  Those that aren't yet animal lovers can learn from it.. The stories are inspiring. And you can be laughing one minute and crying the next. You can find information on how to order the book here.  Or visit Mary's blog Almost Perfect Pets.

We were not paid to review this book. Any opinions expressed are purely our own.

Also, we would like to share a video with you. It makes us sad that so many animals are turned in to shelters because they've gotten old or have become imperfect. Humans like this guy really know what commitment is. And you can tell he is getting back as much as he is giving.



If the video doesn't play, click here.

Oh, and for those of you who missed our Dr Tweety & the Fab Five Appreciation Day post the other day, we would like to share a comment left by them:

Dear Jan & da funee farmz & to all our frendzez oldee & newz:
We lovez you!!!!! Tanks you fur dis day. We justee lovez da CB & missez it terry-bully. What's wouldz we doez witout our frendsez??
Da dadee iz recoverin' (not da furny-ture). He still facez anudder operashun but iz through two of dem in two monthsez.
Poor dadee. He still can't liftee or do much but we iz keepin' him compaknee.
When he haz his radyayshun, we can'ts be aroundz him. But fur now, we justee pilez on tops of him!!!
Tank you fur all your well wishez. One of deze dayz, we WILL haz a partee & I promisez to roastie a 987 pound ham!!!!!

So sharpen your appetites. One of these days, the Fab 5 will be throwing a PARTY! 

Have a purring and tail wagging day.

Genghis Khat 's Prize Package

We recently won the Can Never Have Too Many Cats Giveaway at Genghis Khat's. Our prize package arrived yesterday and we couldn't believe our eyes.

Yep, Sam is always first to investigate.  He isn't just curious. He actually likes to get his picture taken.  Merci is the least curious. She doesn't usually even come this close when Jan gets the camera and opens a package.

Look at how neatly everything is wrapped. 

There's something for all of us. See the 2 plates for Jan's wall. And the kitchen towel set.

Percy thinks he found the best prize of all. The box.

Okay, Jan, we're waiting. Break open the cat and dog treats before we help ourselves.

Thank you Genghis and Penny.  We love the gifts you sent. And it was really sweet of you to go buy us woofies some treats since the original prize was for the kitties.



For those of you who read our post Canned Mystery and suggested Purina should do more than reimburse us for the one exploding can of Purina One dog food, we thought we should add an update.  Today Jan received 5 FREE coupons in the mail. Each is for 2 cans or pouches of Purina brand Pet Food, any size, any variety (up to $3.26).  Thank you for your concern.  And thank you, Purina, for your quick response when we contacted you.

Have a purring and tail wagging day.

Dr Tweety & Fab 5 Day

We want to do something different today. Many of you know Dr Tweety and the Fab 5. They have spread a lot of smiles around the blogosphere with their stories, the gigantic hams they cooked and served at their internet cafe, Maximillion's adventures ....

Many of you are aware that their mom's mother died last December. It was a very hard, sad time. But many are unaware that their folks have been going through a really rough time with medical and associated problems. We don't need to know the details, just to be there to support them.

Their mom hasn't visited their blog in some time and likely won't for a while, although she is planning to return to blogging when she can. But we thought we would see if we can't lure them to our blog for a quick visit so they can see that we -- and you -- still care. If not, we will email a copy of everything to them. But one way or another, we want them to know they are all loved and missed.  And definitely not forgotten.

So we hereby officially declare this -

Dr. Tweety & the Fab 5 Appreciation Day!

 Dr. Tweety

Auntie Stinkie

Maximillian

Delilah

Iris

To all of you and your mom, we send lots of purrs, tails wags and hugs.  We hope you will be able to return soon. But if not and it takes a while, we'll be waiting for you, along with all your loyal readers and friends. 

Einstein, Pinto Foal

Jan is hogging the computer again. But she's doing it to help us so we can't complain. But so you don't forget us, we thought we'd quickly post a cute video.

This is Einstein, world's smallest pinto stallion foal. Just 14" high and 6 pounds when he was born. However, Einstein appears to be healthy and shows no signs of dwarfism.



If the video doesn't play, click here.

We opened a new blog today to collect and display the project Jan is working on. You can view the first few items on Jan's Funny Farm Fair. We'll be posting some more soon. It's kind of slow going.

Have a purring and tail wagging day.

Mother's Day 2010

Happy Mother's Day!

 

A basket of beautiful red and white roses for each beautiful -- yes, you're beautiful -- lady visiting. We love you, whether you're the mother of a human bean or the human mom of a furry, and we wish you a day filled with love and happiness. .

JFF -- Cotton, Merci, Cyndi, Percy, Cameron, Buddy, Rusty & Sam
Oh, and Jan

CSN Cat Tree

If you remember, we said there was "Entertainment Coming Soon."  Well, this is Cotton and as the oldest Funny Farmer, I have elected myself spokescat for the Cat Tree fiasco. 

When Jan opened the box and saw all the parts to be assembled, she started to panic. (She's not too handy with the tools, in case you haven't figured that out yet.)  Here is Sam guarding the box in case a Cat Tree burglar breaks in.

With the help of a magnifying glass for her old eyes, the diagram showing where all the parts belonged and a long lunch break, the Cat Tree began to take shape. Of course about the time she started working on level four she figured out she'd missed the two washers on level two and had to start taking it apart and redoing it.(That was really entertaining!)

It is a really nice cat condo. The beige faux fur is so soft and comfortable to lie on.  The posts are sisal rope which is great for sharpening our claws.  We have a hammock, a "cave," and several balconies to choose from.

As Funny Farm matriarch, I have moved my "throne" onto the 3rd level -- or the 4th or even the 2nd, if I so desire -- and spend much of my time looking down on my subjects. I have decimated the hanging ball of yarn already.  It was so convenient to not have to bat toys around the floor.   I have already let Jan know she needs to replace it with another toy for my pleasure. And if any of the other felines wish to play with it, I am willing to share.

Okay, I am exaggerating just a little.  I don't actually have a throne or any subjects, only siblings, but we do love this cat tree.  Yesterday Jan tightened all the bolts as the directions said to do so we will stay safe. She was a bit concerned about the tree tipping over onto the television set or the computer, especially since this old floor is not flat.  Everything in the house leans forward. But the tree is heavy and appears to be sturdy enough to not be affected by our climbing around on it.  As you will notice in the photos below, all the Funny Farmer Felines are quite satisfied with it..

Eventually Jan got the Cat Tree put together. She sprinkled a little catnip on it and Percy was the first to check it out.



And then I joined him.
 

Cameron climbed onto the desk to take a good sniff of the new tree.

Cyndi headed for the top deck.

Buddy and Sam aren't into nip but they came by to check out our new roost too.

Cameron and I watch as Percy curls up in the cave.  Hmmm. A good fit.

Here we have (from bottom) Cameron, Percy, me (Cotton) and Cyndi.  Rusty wasn't sure it was safe to join us because he's dog-size.


But when the tree is empty, Rusty tries level 3 for size. Comfy!
And, oh, yes, we can't forget our largest feline, the Floppy Eared Hound Cat. (That's one of our old scratching posts on the left.)

Ah, such comfort. Just Buddy's size.  Zzzzzzz.


Shhh, Buddy is sleeping, so I'll quietly say good night. Have a purring and tail wagging day.

Winning, Exploding and Nursing

Hi, I'm Cyndi, and I waved my paw the hardest so I would be picked to do today's post.

Thank you, Ghengis Khat for the cheerful news first thing this morning.  We felines -- Cotton, Percy, Cameron, Rusty and I -- won his "Can Never Have Too Many Cats" giveaway.  He's so generous, he's even going to throw in a treat for the dogs.  And congratulations to the winners of  Genghis' human Pelie's three giveaways.  Our friends over at the Kool Kittie Krew won "Sweet Treats."

We did hear from Purina last night regarding Tuesday's "Canned Mystery" post. Actually, Jan received a phone call. The Purina lady didn't even ask to speak to any of us.  Hey, this is our journal! And it was our dogs' food that exploded. Shouldn't we have been given a chance to testify too?  We'll forgive her, though, because Purina is going to replace the exploding can. The only "explanation" is that somehow bacteria got into the can. Other than that, we'll never know.

There's a nurse in Jan's family, so we want to be sure to mention how hardworking and dedicated nurses are.  National Nurses Week runs from May 6 - 12, the birth date of Florence Nightingale. Yes, we know it's already the 7th and we missed National Nurses Day.  We salute all oft-forgotten and ignored, overworked and underpaid nurses. You can read a little background on the Day/Week here.      

Angel and Kirby's mom just lost her mother. If you can stop by and leave her a kind word, we're sure she would appreciate it. 

Have a purring and tail wagging day.

Baby and Boxer and Pet

We thought we would give you a smile today.  Here's a clip from the Bonnie Hunt Show. It's Baby and Boxer.



If the video doesn't play for you, click here.


Pet of the Bengal Brats began a story on fairy godmothers yesterday and we're all dying of curiosity to find out what magic ML of the Cat Blogosphere and Deb of The Taylor CatSSSSS managed for her after they put their heads together.  They're pretty experienced wand wavers, those two. So be sure to drop by sometime today -- preferably after Pet publishes her post. 

Have a purring and tail wagging day.

Moving on in

There's a Mother's Day contest over at Alasandra's so we decided to enter. Cameron did yesterday's post but we voted to let him do today's too since it's his entry in the contest.  We hope it will inspire some of you to stop procrastinating.  Anyone can enter. This giveaway is held by Cafe Press so it isn't limited to just the US or the US and Canada. Hurry up. Go by and enter before the contest closes on May 6.

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

Hi, I'm Cameron and I asked to do the post for this contest because I think our Jan is special for a slightly different reason than the other Funny Farmers do.

All the other cats and dogs were rescued by her through one means or another but I am the only Funny Farmer who rescued myself. You see, I used to live next door to Merci and Jan's cats. I was born in a closet in a neighbor's house and after a couple of weeks, my whole family was moved outside onto the front porch. It was nice to be able to explore and play with my mom and siblings but when they started going to new homes, I got lonely.

Merci used to come visit me every time she walked by so I started sleeping on her front porch and waiting for her to come outside and even began following her when she walked Jan so I would have some company. And one day I followed Merci inside her home. The other kitties hissed at me and I ran back outside.

But after a few days, I tried again. This time I didn't run away. Jan put me outside a time or two so I could go home but I wanted to be an inside cat again with a family, so I just sat outside the screen door and looked pitiful and she'd let me back in. Finally she talked to the folks I belonged to and they said it was okay if I stayed.

I haven't been outside since, except to go to the vet's office. And I don't want to. It's nice inside. Plenty of food and water and other kitties to play with, plus Merci and a couple of other dogs to annoy. Life is good indoors.

Since Jan gave me an inside forever home, I think she deserves a Mother's Day present. I think she should have a new car, but a tote bag will do nicely in its place. We kitties don't have an allowance so we can't buy Jan a present, but if I win the giveaway, I'll share -- the bag would be from all of us.

Happy Mother's Day!

And go by Alasandra's and enter.

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

If you feed your cat Nutro, check your batch number. Toxic levels of Vitamin D have reportedly been found. Details here.

Canned Mystery

We need to send some photos to Purina but we can't email them since Jan says companies don't want to receive attachments from strangers. So we decided to post the photos and give the company the link to copy and paste so they can view the photos. So please forgive us for the strange pictures. We don't even mind if you skip reading this post.  :-)

You see, we have a mystery here and we want to ask Purina if they know what has happened. (Plus we'd like to be reimbursed for the food.)

This winter Jan bought some canned dog food and there were a couple of cans left. One was Purina One. The other day she decided to open a can and this is what she found.

 This was quite a surprise. We'd take a wild guess the can exploded.  There was quite a mess to clean up around it. But what could have caused this? It was a can of Wholesome Beef and Brown Rice. It was not expired. "Best before August 2011."  So it wasn't expired, nor kept at an extreme temperature. Anyone have any ideas?

Anyway, our regular post will publish in about three hours.  See you then.

PS - We just want to be clear that this is not posted as a complaint against Purina. We've dealt with them before and have no doubt they will respond.  We're just posting the photos here because we can't email them to show what we found.

Jessica the Hippo

Cameron here. Jan has been busy on the computer so we haven't had much online time the past few days. But we don't want you to forget us, so we thought we would post something to catch your attention. And Jessica the pet Hippo of a family in South Africa should do just that.



If the video doesn't play, click here.

We are sad to know that Digby is preparing to leave soon for the Rainbow Bridge. And all because of a tick bite. We wish him a journey free of pain, surrounded by those who love him.

There is good news on the two kittens with Cerebellar Hypoplasia we posted on recently. We won't spoil it by telling. You can go read about it here.

We did have a post planned but the photos are still in the camera.
Have a purring and tail wagging day.

Purrs for Herman Day

Sunday, May 2, 2010

We are joining with the Cat Blogosphere in dedicating today to Herman and his special human Karen Jo. We wish them many, many more sunrises together. Herman's Hideaway

Ban Gas Chamber Petition

I asked to do today's post because Jan adopted me from the local shelter. I was shy and depressed and would likely have been overlooked by potential adopters, and I would then have died by lethal injection. My name is Merci. I am one of the fortunate ones, but millions of animals every year die in shelters across the nation.

Yesterday we had a temporary post at the top of JFF for those in the area of Garland, Texas to join together for one day, April 30, to telephone Garland officials to stop the use of gas chambers at their shelter.

Gas chambers are a barbaric method of killing that tortures the animals and should have been banned decades ago. Actually, it should never have been used.  On the other hand, those that don't use a gas chamber and enjoy torturing animals delight in an excruciating practice called heart-sticking instead of properly administering an injection. We realize that there are those who shed tears over the animals they try to euthanize humanely, but there are also those with perverted minds that actually enjoy the suffering of the dying.

But this post is about the gas chamber. We don't have any confidence in online petitions doing any good, but after some consideration, we decided to do a post asking if you will sign this one:

Ban Gas Chambers In All States Of USA
Target: Barack Obama's Animal Welfare Team
Sponsored by: Mike Moore & Ginger Geronimo

The details of euthanasia are hard to read but understanding the process is the first step to improving it nationwide. As you can imagine, gassed animals claw, cough, choke and struggle until they become unconscious.

Luckily, Florida is one of the twelve states that have banned the antiquated chambers into which homeless animals are herded and asphyxiated with lethal gas. Six more states are currently considering legislation pending to ban the chambers. Sadly, that still leaves 32 states using hundreds of the chambers.

The petition site is here. We hope you will take a minute to sign it.

Gas chambers are banned in Georgia, with exceptions, which means a lot of shelters still using them. They should be banned altogether!

In case any reader is not familiar with this type of killing at our shelters and is hesitating to sign the petition, we post this video.



If the video doesn't play, click here.

We know our readers love animals and would like to see a day when healthy adoptable animals are not "mass killed."

Despite the sad nature of this post, I hope you have a purring and tail wagging day.