The Lump in the Middle

Marcus:  Jaaaaaaan!  Percy didn't get up.  He's still in bed.

Jan:  No, he's not still in bed.  And stop racing around the bed screeching.

Marcus:  Yes, he is.  See the lump in the middle?  That's Percy.

Jan:  Well, that's okay.  He's an old cat and he's staying warm.  Let him sleep.

Marcus:  That's not fair!  You make me get off the bed when you get up and you don't let me go back to my bed the rest of the day.  You even put a couple of gates across it to block me.

Jan:  That's my bed, and you usually manage to find a spot to perch regardless of how I block you.  And if you remember, you have a comfortable bed of your own.

Percy:  Hey, you two, this lump in the bed is trying to sleep.  Wake me when breakfast is served.


Tomorrow is Halloween, so we thought we would post a couple of non-edited "Halloween" photos from our front porch.  Yes, that is our friend the spider from Open Invitation to Marcus.

Thanks to all of you who assured us this is a good spider.  Except on Halloween.  Come visit it if you dare.

 Happy Halloween.

Oh, and before we forget again, we won the washable piddle pads from the giveaway over at Dezi's World.  Thank you, Dezi and Raena.  Jan says they are really nice and handy to have around with older cats.  Uh, wait, who is she calling old?

We are participating in Happy Tuesday blog hop. Stop by Comedy Plus to see other posts or to join the fun.

Fall Festival 2016

Merci: Halloween might be over but it sticks in pix.

Taylor: It what?

Cyndi: Merci means it lingers in photos.

Taylor: You mean there really are ghosts and goblins that hang around after the celebration?

Merci: No, silly, I mean we have pictures. Some of the local churches held a Fall Festival at the Greatest Generation Park on Halloween.

Cyndi: It' a safe way for children and parents to have trick or treat fun safely.

Taylor:  Oh, that's where Jan walked to on Monday.

Merci:  Yes.  it was packed!  She barely made it home on wobbly legs.  

Taylor:  Can we share them?  The pictures, I mean.


Cyndi:  Yep, that's what this post is for.

Tim and the Halloween headless A.C.T.S. Outreach of GA team were passing out candy.

This is the Sin Crusher.  Interesting name.

The Sheriff and Deputies.

Playground for the kids.

Cotton candy.

Cooking the hot dogs.

There were toss games for children.

And an inflatable slide.

Even the GA State Patrol was passing out candy.

This nice young man didn't laugh when Jan asked if R.U.S.H. is a musical group.  His friends hid behind Jan but he posed and approved the picture. 

Jan should have walked around the van before assuming this was the musical entertainment. 

Balloons, balloons, balloons.

Praise dancers.

The water fountain.  No, not the drinking fountain . 

Just a small part of the crowd.

Now this is the band.

Merci:  And so ends your first Halloween, Taylor.  Are you already looking forward to next year?

Taylor:  No, not really.  It seems to be a time for humans to dress weird and to receive lots of candy.  We didn't get any candy.

Cyndi:  Be glad you're a cat.  I think it must be exhausting to walk around dressed in a costume carrying a bag of candy that gets heavier and heavier.

Taylor:  You have a good point.  If humans want to give out real treats, they should be handing out bugs and mice.

Merci:  Oh, yes, I can see that now. Bags would be flying and humans would be screaming.

Cyndi:  And we furries would be so thankful for the tasty snacks.
 


We are joining the Thankful Thursday blog hop at Brian's Home.  Brian has graciously taken it over from Pepi Smart Dog.  We appreciate that Pepi hosted it for so long.

Halloween Bleeding Pumpkin 2016

Marcus destroying his Halloween costume.

Merci:  Taylor, have you ever heard the Halloween story of the bleeding pumpkin?

Taylor:  No, is it a good one?

Cyndi:  Oh, you better believe it's good.

Rusty:  You know that we don't do Halloween decorating.  Have you ever wondered why?

Taylor:  Actually, this is my first Halloween with you. I'd guess we can't afford to decorate.

Marcus:  Actually, before your time, Jan got a big pumpkin to carve for Halloween.  She figured if other people can carve one, she could too.

Our pumpkin patch by Nellie.

Micah:  So we all sat down to watch a spooky Halloween show on the TV while Jan sat at the desk with a large knife and carved a face on the pumpkin.

Buddy:  Just before the last commercial, there was a frightening scream behind us.  We all turned and there was the pumpkin with wide eyes and big teeth.  Blood was gushing out it's mouth and dripping from its eyes.

Percy:  I ran over and Jan's hand with the knife was inside the pumpkin/  Blood was spurting out of her wrist and through the pumpkin's eyes and mouth.

Taylor:  Jan cut herself with the knife?

Cyndi:  That's what we thought too, but Jan was screaming that the pumpkin bit her.

Taylor:  Bit her?  But pumpkins don't bite.  Er ... do they?

Merci:  That one must.  I dialed 9-1-1 with my nose for an ambulance.   An E.M.T. said he could see what appeared to be large tooth marks in her wrist. 

Rusty:  Jan was taken away to the Emergency Room to stop the bleeding.  After a while, two police officers came and read the pumpkin its rights.

Marcus:  They carried it outside, put it in the back seat of a squad car, and drove away.  We never saw it again.

Taylor:  I bet they made a pie out of it.  What about Jan?

Micah:  Oh, yes, we saw Jan again. She's been wondering the streets as a bag lady ever since.  Occasionally she stops by to say hello.

Buddy:   It was a traumatic night.   After that I never turned my back on another pumpkin. And we have never decorated for Halloween again.

National BOO Day

Taylor:  Whoa!  What's that?

Merci:  It's the Funny Farmer Pumpkin Patch.  Nellie made it for us.

Rusty:  There were too many of us for Nellie to put all our names on  one or even two pumpkins, so she made us our own pumpkin patch.

Merci:  Yes.  We're "The Funny Farmer Patch" over at the Nellie on the Edge blog.  She still has room for some other bloggers if they hurry.

Taylor:  We don't have to eat all those pumpkins, do we?

Merci:  No, they're for Halloween.  It will be here on October 31.  That's just over a week away.

Rusty:  Why would you think we'd have to eat them?

Taylor:  Jan feeds us a little pumpkin on occasion to keep us "regular".  A little goes a long way.

Merci:  Yep, you eat too much and Halloween could become National Poop Day.

Taylor:   I didn't arrive until last November, so I've never heard of Halloween.  What is it?

Rusty:  I guess you could call it National BOO!!  Day.  Hey, Taylor, come back here.  I was just joking.

Merci:  Too late, Rusty.  Taylor's digging in the litter pan.

Rusty:  Funny, that's the same response I had when Buddy screamed "boo!" at me on my first Halloween here.


We are joining the Pet Parade hosted by Rascal and Rocco, Basil the Bionic Cat, Barking from the Bayou and Owned by a husky.   

Halloween Bleeding Pumpkin FFHT

MERCI:  Have you ever heard the Halloween story of the bleeding pumpkin?

MARCUS:  No, Is it a good one?

CYNDI:  Oh, you better believe it's good.

RUSTY:  You know that Jan doesn't do Halloween decorating.  Have you ever wondered why?

MARCUS:  Yes, I have.  But I figured we can't afford to decorate.

SAM:  Actually, before your time, Jan got a big pumpkin to carve for Halloween.  She figured if other people can carve one, she could too.

MICAH:  So we all sat down to watch a spooky Halloween show on the TV while Jan sat at the desk with a large knife and carved a face on the pumpkin.

BUDDY:  Just before the last commercial, there was a frightening scream behind us.  We all turned and there was the pumpkin with wide eyes and big teeth.  Blood was gushing out it's mouth and dripping from its eyes.

PERCY:  I ran over and Jan's hand with the knife was inside the pumpkin/  Blood was spurting out of her wrist and through the pumpkin's eyes and mouth.

MARCUS:  Jan cut herself with the knife?

CYNDI:  That's what we thought too, but Jan was screaming that the pumpkin bit her.

MARCUS:  Bit her?  But pumpkins don't bite.  Er ... do they?

MERCI:  That one must.  I dialed 9-1-1 with my nose for an ambulance.   An E.M.T. said he could see what appeared to be large tooth marks in her wrist. 

RUSTY:  Jan was taken away to the Emergency Room to stop the bleeding.  After a while, two police officers came and read the pumpkin its rights.

SAM:  They carried it outside, put it in the back seat of a squad car, and drove away.  We never saw it again.

MARCUS:  What about Jan?

MICAH:  Oh, yes, we saw Jan again. 

BUDDY:   It was a traumatic night.   After that I never turned my back on another pumpkin. And we have never decorated for Halloween again.

It is Fractured Fryday Hairy Tails day over at Murphy and Stanley's blog.

PERCY:  Our latest cat interview of Finnegan  and his siblings, Daily Wisdom of 7 Cats and Counting, has published at Mousebreath, the ezine for cats.

Join the Pet Parade blog hop hosted by Rascal and Roscoe.  It is co-hosted by Bionic Basil, Barking From the Bayou and Love is being owned by a husky.

Halloween Confusion

Micah:  Why are we posting this picture again?  Halloween is over.

Marcus:  That's okay.  I don't mind.  Don't I look neat and handsome?

Cyndi:  Neat?  You destroyed the wig because you were too busy playing soccer to pose.

Rusty:  That's water under the bridge now.  We posted the picture again because we want to tell a story about Halloween.

Marcus:  A story?  How short is the story?

Cameron:  What does it matter how short it is?

Marcus:  I have to pee.  So it matters a lot. 

Sam:  Go ask Jan to let you outside and hurry back.

Marcus:  *races for the back door*  Okay.  Don't start without me!

Buddy:  Now that there are no distractions, we would like to go back to earlier in October when we held a giveaway sponsored by Entirely Pets. (If you missed that, you can read about it in Clown Soccer.)The two winners would each get to pick a Halloween costume.

Marcus:  Hey, I thought you were going to wait for me.

Merci:  You're just in time.  Buddy was just introducing the story.

Percy:  When the giveaway ended, we used Random.org to pick two winners and they sent us their information and which costume they would like.  (B&W Selfie Smile Winners)  But they never received their prizes.

Micah:  Oh, that isn't good.  Why didn't they send the costumes to the winners?

Sam:  Do you really need to ask?  It was Jan's fault.  Entirely Jan's fault!

Cyndi:  Well, not entirely Jan's fault.  She had some help.

Merci:  Yes, that was during the period when our computer was crashing and doing strange things.

Rusty:  And then one morning Jan was working on emails, the computer crashed and the hard drive died.

Cameron:  We were without a computer for about a week.  When we got online again we were missing all of the emails on our computer for about 3 weeks. Jan emailed Entirely Pets to check on the costumes and Halloween costumes had already been shipped.

Percy:  Jan was busy trying to reconstruct those missing three weeks of work.  Just before Halloween she checked our online gmail account and could find all the Entirely Pets correspondence EXCEPT the email she wrote with the winners' information.  Evidently she wrote it and the computer crashed before she could send it. 

Buddy:  Jan felt terrible.  It was her fault so she determined she should be the one to provide different prizes.  But Mr. David from Entirely Pets insisted on providing each winner with an alternative prize. 

Merci:  Mr. David, thank you and Entirely Pets for rescuing Jan and us from this situation.  It was kind, merciful and generous.  As of last night, both winners have received an alternative prize. 

Sam:  We would also like to thank Dory's Backyard and Miley's Daily Scoop for their understanding and patience. 

Cameron:  And we do apologize to everyone for Jan.  She's hard to train but perhaps one day ...

The Thankful Thursday blog hop is hosted by PepiSmart Dog.

Ruckus the Eskie, Love is being owned by a husky, and Barking From the Bayou co-host the Thoughtless Thursday blog hop.

Marcus Chews Again

Buddy:  Happy Howl-oween from all of us Funny Farmers.  We told Jan if she tried to dress us up again, we'd do more than howl.


Rusty:  Jan finally finished finding everything she could think of that was not backed up when the hard drive died.  But you know her memory.  She hopes whatever is missing isn't important.

Percy:  As we mentioned yesterday, there will not be a Mousebreath interview again this week.  Perhaps next.  If any of you were corresponding with us about your interview, please re-send your information.

Merci:  Marcus has been eating Jan out of house and home - literally.  He has been into everything.  The things that came out of her car are boxed up in the living room. A few weeks ago, Jan found this on the carpet.

Cyndi:  What in the world is it?  Oh, wait, it's the travel water bowl Jan kept in the car in case one of you dogs needed water.

 

Cameron:  I can't imagine how Marcus thought the bowl would hold water after he chewed a hole in the side.

Sam:  And then to be absolutely certain we would have to bury the bowl, he found it again and chewed a bigger hole in it.  Inside and outside this time.  Guess it didn't taste as good as the first snack since this time some scraps were found with it.

Micah:  I don't know why.  Micah usually likes seconds.  He chewed up a pot holder Wednesday night and then swiped it from where Jan "hid" it to chew on it again for a late night snack.

Marcus:  I don't know why you're all tattling on me.  I could tell some tales on all of you and from what I've heard from Jan, Buddy and Sam, you two have chewed up your share of dish cloths, dish towels and even clothes if there was even a whiff of food around them.  So, don't pick on me.  I'm normal.  You're old. 

Check out this week's Featured Favorite at our Pet Parade host's blog, Rascal and Rocco.

Co-hosted by Bionic Basil, Barking from the bayou, Love is being owned by a husky, and us (Jan's Funny Farm).

There are two parts to the blog hop - linkz and social media, so be sure to enter both.

We are unable to get the code today but you can enter the blog hop at Rascal and Rocco's.

Crash Bang Oops

Cameron:  Last Friday, October 3rd, we heard thunder rumbling closer.  All of a sudden B- A- N- G!!!!!

Micah:  Jan was sitting at the kitchen table balancing her checkbook.  She shot straight up in the air from off the stool, and ran for the back door. 

Merci:  Just as she thought, another accident. The white truck on the left and the truck in the middle of the intersection had collided.  The one on the right stopped to help.  (This photo was taken through the chain link dog pen.)

Percy:  No sooner did she snap the photo, the storm hit. Vehicles came and left, two police cars arrived, one from the county Sheriff's Dept., and a State Trooper.  It was pouring rain but due process prevailed.

Sam:  Eventually, a tow truck arrived for the smaller truck.  The rear driver's side door was caved in on the big white work truck but it drove off under it's own steam.  Is that correct?  I didn't see any steam.

Rusty:  By that time the rain had stopped.  Eventually, everyone pulled away and the neighborhood returned to normal. 

Cyndi: Yesterday (Thursday) as Jan walked home from Toastmasters Club, the mail truck was parked in front of our house away from the intersection, a usual.  A few minutes later, the mail truck was directly in front of our house behind a car with a new mail carrier (ID but no uniform yet) talking to a little old lady parked in the road in front of him.

Marcus:  Jan looked at me and asked why a little old lady would stop a mail truck to chit chat with the driver.  I dunno, I replied.  Why don't you ask her?  No, I don't want to be nosy, she answered.  Really?  Since when?

Buddy:  It took a few minutes but we all finally realized they weren't chit chatting. One vehicle had sideswiped the other and they were waiting for reinforcements.  After a bit another mail truck arrived and there was a lot of chatter.  Then a non-postal pickup truck arrived.  We guessed a postal supervisor because there was a lot more chatter.

Micah:  Finally a police car arrived.  More chatter and moving around.  And then a State Patrol Officer came.  Lots of back and forth movement and chatter. 

Caemron:  All that exercise they were getting made us tired.  We didn't think they would ever leave!

Merci:  But they did.

Buddy:  The moral of this post is to stay away from our house for a while unless you have good collision insurance.

Percy:  Well, at least we don't have to worry about there being an accident in our alley.

Marcus:  Why is that?

Cyndi:  Because we don't have alley access, silly.

Marcus:  Oh, right.  I forgot. 

Sam:  We don't have any pictures of Thursday's accident.  Jan didn't think it was a good idea to go outside to take photos of a federal truck after a minor incident, especially since she would have had to take pictures of any damage from the middle of the street. 

Cyndi:  We tried to tell her no one would notice but she wasn't fooled ... I mean, she wouldn't listen.

Rusty:  We don't have a Mousebreath interview today. Hopefully, we will next Friday.

Daily reminder:  If you don't have a favorite shelter in the Vetericyn giveaway, please consider voting for PAWS, Norwalk CT once daily through October 15.   Many of you know of PAWS through Kevin from Animal Shelter Volunteer blog.  Your vote matters. 

1. Click on this link.  bit.ly/1qVZSBi  (it will open a new tab)
2. Click on "Click here to vote for a small animal organization". PAWS, Norwalk, CT will appear.
3.Click "Vote".

Oh, and we almost forgot to remind you that our Howloween ... uh, Halloweeen dog costume giveaway ends at midnight tonight.  To enter, leave a comment on Clown Soccer.

 The Pet Parade is hosted by Rascal and Rocco.  Stop by their blog to learn this week's Featured Favorite.

The Pet Parade is co-hosted by Bionic Basil, Barking from the Bayou, Love is being owned by a husky, and us (Jan's Funny Farm).

There are two parts to this hop - the linkz and the social media, so be sure to enter both.

An InLinkz Link-up

get the InLinkz code









get the InLinkz code

Sharpen Your Mice

Buddy:  Hey, everyone, clean the wax out of your ears and listen up!  We're having a dog Howloween  .. um, Halloween costume giveaway.  So sharpen your pencil and enter.

Cyndi:  Furries don't use a pencil, Buddy.  We use a keyboard and mouse.

Cameron:  Okay, so everyone can sharpen their keyboards and mice!

Rusty:  That makes no sense, Cameron.  

Micah:  Things seldom make sense around here.

Sam:  Prepare the paw.  How's that?

Merci:  It's easy to enter.  Just visit yesterday's post, pick out the costume you would like to win and leave us a comment. 

Percy:  Go ahead.  Pop over to read "Clown Soccer" and leave a comment there.  We'll wait.

Marcus:  We will?  I was just about to sneak off for a game of soccer.  Oh, sorry, Buddy said I wasn't supposed to mention that word today.  How about if I just mention there will be two winners picked to win a costume?


Daily reminder:  If you don't have a favorite shelter in the Vetericyn giveaway, please consider voting for PAWS, Norwalk CT once daily through October 15.   Many of you know of PAWS through Kevin from Animal Shelter Volunteer blog.  Your vote matters. 

1. Click on this link.  bit.ly/1qVZSBi  (it will open a new tab)
2. Click on "Click here to vote for a small animal organization". PAWS, Norwalk, CT will appear.
3.Click "Vote".

Pepi Smart Dog hosts the Thankful Thursday blog hop.


Thoughtless Thursday is co-hosted by Ruckus the Eskie and Love is being owned by a husky.

Clown Soccer

Micah:  I guess you all know Halloween is this month and it's fast approaching.. 

Cyndi:  We're going to celebrate with a dog costume giveaway from our old friends at Entirely Pets.

Merci:  They offered to send us costumes but we dogs weren't too cooperative last year so Jan declined.

Cameron:  And if you think the dogs were uncooperative last year, wait till you see what happened this eyar.

Marcus:  Jan was going to get a costume for me since I'm the only furry here who doesn't mind wearing a costume, but she said my ears are too big to know whether a costume would fit them.  Why would she say I have big ears?

Sam:  Because you have big ears.  And no sense.  Look what you did when Jan put a clown costume on you.

Marcus:  I was playing soccer.  And I had an audience. You don't interrupt a guy to take pictures of a costume in the middle of a game!

Rusty:  Well, the costume didn't slow your game any.  You look like a clown with the hat hanging off the side of your head. 

Percy:  Look at the colorful hair dragging on the ground.  It's all mixed with leaves.  What a mess, Marcus! 

Buddy:  I can't believe you let Jan put that outfit on you if you weren't going to wear it properly.  It isn't a soccer uniform. 

Marcus:  It isn't?  It worked.  I played a good game.  Everyone laughed and had a good time watching.

Buddy:  That's because you looked so ridiculous.  You got the costume dirty.  Jan had to wash it.

Merci:  You look really sad, Sam.  Or were you plotting revenge?

Sam:  I was wondering what we can make Jan wear to make her look as dumb as a big male dog in a size medium pirate hat..

Percy:  Well, if I were Jan, I'd be afraid, very afraid of that look in your eyes.

Buddy:  Get this hat off my head right now or I'll take it off!

Cameron:  You wouldn't.  You didn't. 

Buddy:  Of course I did!  Would I lie?

Micah:  Well, now that we've all had a little fun, let's get to the giveaway.  We know that many of you like to dress up in a costume.  Marcus does but he was having too much fun to pose yesterday.

Sam: So check out the dog costumes at Entirely Pets  and leave a comment telling us which costume you would like to win.

Cyndi:  We're sorry but the giveaway is only open to the US and Canada.  Be sure to leave some way to contact you should you win.  If you have any problem leaving a comment, use the contact form in our left sidebar to contact us and we will post a comment for you.

Merci:  We were going to test Giveaway Tools but we've had some technical problems and  decided to stick with Random.org to pick the two winners this time.We will try it next time.

Rusty:  Entries will close at midnight Friday, October 10.  Winner will be announced Sunday, October 12.


Daily reminder:  If you don't have a favorite shelter in the Vetericyn giveaway, please consider voting for PAWS, Norwalk CT once daily through October 15.   Many of you know of PAWS through Kevin from Animal Shelter Volunteer blog.  Your vote matters. 

1. Click on this link.  bit.ly/1qVZSBi  (it will open a new tab)
2. Click on "Click here to vote for a small animal organization". PAWS, Norwalk, CT will appear.
3.Click "Vote".
 

Thankful Halloween

Buddy, Sam, Merci

We've been thinking about what to be thankful for this week. Well, we are thankful for many things, but we couldn't figure out what to post. And then we remembered we're having a warm spell in between cold. So we decided this week we would post on how nice it is to have fur siblings to curl up with when the weather is nippy. (Yeah, it gets nippy in the house too.)

There are so many furries - and humans too - who don't have a home or warm bedding, let alone love and  companionship. Yes, we have much to be thankful for.  What about you?

We realize today is Halloween but we're not into wearing costumes and Jan won't let us beg treats from strangers, so we'll just wish you all a fun time tonight.

Merci

We're going to link up with PepiSmartDog's Thankful Thursday blog hop.

And This N That Thursday blog hop at the 2BrownDawgs.