Team Tabby, New Badges and Late Cards

This week we have Team Tabby as our special guests. 

Be sure to stop by Mousebreath to read Moe, Mindy, Cookie & Mike a.k.a. Team Tabby.

We're very happy Ann of Zoolatry is going to spend the holidays  with family.  She's so good about helping us spread the word on the interviews, even though she is extremely busy.  After we started doing the interviews, she surprised us with our first FFF badge and a special one for those we have interviewed. Thank you, Ann. We have so enjoyed using your graphic.

But we need to make a change.

Jan made us a new badge to reflect that Micah is now part of FFF. Our dear sister Cotton will always be with us in spirit.  The "I was interviewed by FFF" badges have also been changed.

On a different topic, we are receiving some lovely cards from bloggers and we're embarrassed cause we're late getting our Christmas card created and ....  you guessed it! .... it's Jan's fault.  She' been working on everything except our e-card.    Okay, so she decorated our blog and the Tabby Cat Blog and she made us new badges for our interviews. And she's given us a little computer time to do our interview. But, hey, if she can't keep up, she should skip a daily nap or three.  Oh, wait, she doesn't take naps.  That's us.

Guess we're going to have to wait till she can get to it.  But we're going to whine a lot until then.

Sharing Crunchy Duck Chews

Hey, it's the 3 Droolateers again with a tasty post.

We were fortunate to have opportunity to taste test some Etta Says! Crunchy Duck Chews for the Baby Patches Tester Team.

As usual, Jan had to read the label first.  They are 100 % natural and will help clean our teeth and help our gums.  They are made in the USA.  There are no artificial preservatives, coloring or fillers.  So Jan is happy. 
But what we consider important is how they taste.

First the sniff test.

Sam:  As soon as Jan laid the package on the step to take a picture, I was right there giving it a sniff over.

Buddy:  And I was right behind him ... um, on the step over him.

Sam:  I'm first, I'm first, I'm first.  (Did I mention I'm first?)  Crunch ... crunch ... gulp ...gone.

Buddy:  This is my good side. Hurry up and take the picture. 

Merci:   Gee, Jan, can you be any slower?  Take the picture!

Buddy:  I wasn't going to eat mine near Sam.  He would be breathing in my face and dripping drool on my paw.

Merci:  The crunchy duck chews are about 4 1/2" long.  Can you see it sticking out of the side of my mouth as I hunt for a safe spot to eat mine?

Sam:  I get seconds, I get seconds, I get seconds.  (Did I mention I get seconds?)

Buddy:  Oh, good, I get seconds. 

Merci:  I will not act like Sam.  I will not act like Sam.  I will be calm and aloof. 

Excuse us a moment, we need to have a discussion.  Mumble, mumble, mumble.

Okay, we have a unanimous decision -  they are yummilicious!  We each ate 2.  That's 6 gone and 6 left in the bag.  We vote in favor of Jan giving us the remainder of the Crunchy Duck Chews before they disappear.  (You know how humans are.  Let them sniff a good snack and they'll eat it while you aren't looking.)

Thank you, Baby Patches of Nip and Bones, for providing us with these delicious Crunchy Duck Chews to taste test.  We really enjoyed them.

Buddy & Merci:  Sam wanted to eat the whole package himself but, fortunately, Jan made him share.

Musical Spotlight

Hey, it's me, Merci. It's been an emotionally stressful weekend around the CB and FB CWB, so we all thought we'd try to give everybuddy a smile.  No disrespect intended.

We finally convinced Jan to make us a Christmas header and background.  We were pretty tired of looking at Thanksgiving.  Not that we're not thankful.  But we have enough trouble with Jan not reading the calendar ahead of time.  Now she's not reading it backwards?  Um, back?  Whatever.  She's always either behind or ahead. No, she's never ahead, except when she has hit the Publish button instead of the Save.

Well, imagine our surprise when we saw Sam wearing a baker's hat in the finished CHRISTMAS header.  *big sigh!*  Sam is to hats as Jan is to dates - always out of sync.
 

Hey, Buddy here.  Merci, can you move over just a little bit so everybuddy can see me clearly?  I'd like to dedicate something to Romeo's Staff. I think she already figured this out, but just in case ....
  
   "There is no snooze button on a cat who wants breakfast."
      -Anonymous

Hey, *elbows Buddy out of the way* this is Cyndi.  If Buddy gets to tell a cat joke, then I get to tell a dog joke.

    Dr. Cutter is the local Veterinarian, known for his wry humor. He surpassed himself one summer day when a city dog was brought to him after an encounter with a porcupine.

    After almost an hour of prying, pulling, cutting and stitching, he returned the dog to its owner, who asked what she owed.

    "Thirty dollars, Ma'am," he answered.

    "Why that's simply outrageous!" she stormed. "That's what's wrong with you Maine people, you're always trying to over charge summer visitors. Whatever do you do in the winter, when we're not being gypped here?"

    "Raise porcupines, Ma'am."

Hey, guys, it's me again.  We're supposed to be making you smile, not playing musical spotlight.  Maybe I better say goodnight and go see if anything is cooking yet. 

Meezer Mom Jan and CB

Graphic by Karla of Miss Peach's blog.

We enjoyed the Rocky Mount Meezer blog which was written by Jan Struckhoff. She hasn't been posting much for a long while but last night the news came from Facebook that Jan died very suddenly Thursday, leaving behind a husband and three cats - .Sabrina, Sam and Simon. 

Graphic by Zoolatry.

You are welcome to use either or both of the above graphics.  Ann and Karla made them and are sharing them.

There is no post on her blog and there likely won't be but she was a part of the blogging community and we'd like to honor her life with a post.  Her family and friends are remembered in prayer.

 Jan was upbeat and happy, but according to Facebook posts she was depressed and hid it very well.

We mention the last statement because the past couple of days there has been some controversy on the Cat Blogosphere. (We're not going to mention name or blog.  That's irrelevant to this post.)  It's not the first time and likely won't be the last, but usually it's because someone gets their feelings hurt, lashes out to hurt the feelings of others, can't be reasoned with, and won't apologize. .

With the news of Jan's death, our perspective on the controversy changed.  Is it possible that when the blogging controversies occur, the upset person is depressed, discouraged, scared of something happening in their own life, perhaps having a pity party because they feel overlooked or an outsider?  When Jan gets discouraged, she sometimes gets .... hmmm, how can we put this?  Ah, the "itchy" word - witchy. 

We hope the CB controversy will end on a positive note because Mog is doing her best to cope with learning a new job after being conscripted while ML is on hiatus.  And none of us intended to ignore or hurt anyone's feelings.

We wonder if the CB problems arise as a cry for "help" because the angry person is discouraged and needs a hug and some positive attention?  (We're asking, not making a statement.)  If so, which response to negative emotions gets the best results - to hold everything inside and pretend everything is fine or to lash out in anger?  Neither works. We lost two bloggers in one day - .possibly one to each extreme.  Both are loved.

If the one wants to return to the CB at some point, we'll welcome her back.  After all, we are here to support one another during good and bad times.  Forgiveness is part of support.

But Jan Struckhoff, we will miss you.