Preparing for Winter Storm

Percy:  This is where I plan to be for the next two days - at least.  Hiding under the sheets and blankets on the big bed. 

Marcus:  Hiding?  I can see your hump.  Are you part camel?

Percy:  I don't have a hump.

Marcus:  I beg to differ.  I distinctly see a hump.

Percy:  Close your eyes and you won't see anything.

Marcus:  Okay.


Taylor:  Glad those two have that problem ironed out.  We're waiting on a winter storm to arrive today and carry into at least tomorrow afternoon.

Merci:  Fortunately, we don't get an abundance of ice and snow here but evidently some is arriving.  Last winter was fairly warm, so this will be your first snowstorm, Taylor.

Taylor:  From what I'm hearing, I'd just as soon miss it.  I hope there is room under the blankets for me.  Move over, Percy!


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

Go To WWW Dot

Rusty:  Well, now that the day is half over, we can finally post.

Buddy:  2017 has been off to a shut down start.  Monday night we had to shut down because of thunderstorms rolling through here.  We were expecting worse than we got but some around us were not so fortunate.

Cyndi:  Yesterday we were shut down without warning.  Well, our internet was.  It's back this morning.

 Rusty:  We're only posting this late today because we want to participate in Thankful Thursday.

Buddy:  We're a bit unprepared, so we thought we would share this photo of a lone bird sitting on the mill fence a few days before Christmas.  It was growing dark and we hadn't seen any birds in several days.  It just looked so lonely sitting there in the cold.  Marcus wanted to invite it to dinner.

Cyndi:  We were surprised Monday.  When Jan shut down the computer, she got a lot accomplished.  Every year she sets up a calendar with special days, such as our birthdays, but for a number of years, it's April or even May before it gets done.  This year it was finished on the 2nd.  Now if she would only remember to read it!

Rusty:  But yesterday, we had a lot to do on the internet.  Jan called tech support several times over the course of several hours and each time got an "all circuits are busy" message, so she knew there was an outage in the area.

Buddy:  She decided to try one more time about 11:30 and the call went through.  There was no outage message, just a recording telling her it was resetting her internet.  (It evidently didn't work.) Then to hang up, disconnect modem, etc.  She figured the outage must have been fixed and her internet just wasn't working.

Rusty:  We won't tell you all the fun, but we will say she had a lot of it.  Then she called again.  This time she got a recording saying there was a "current outage of data and audio" in the area.  The waiting time to talk to someone was 5 - 9 minutes.  It was nearly midnight.  She hung up.

Cyndi:  Now the reason we're telling this story is to reach the punch line.  Yes, this is a true story and there is a punch line.

Buddy:  When the recorded message told her about the outage - and why didn't it tell her the FIRST time she called? - it instructed her to GO to www dot (their website) and fill out a ticket.

Rusty:  Jan looked at the phone in disbelief and demanded of the prerecorded message, "You IDIOT!  And how am I supposed to do that without the internet?"


Cyndi: After Jan set up the 2017 calendar Monday, we sat here and went through the lovely Christmas cards we received from a number of you.

Buddy:  We had hoped she would be able to make graphics to post with all the snail mail and emailed cards we received, but there hasn't been time. You bloggers are so talented in creating graphics.

Rusty:  We're grateful for each and every one of you!  We hope 2017 will be a great year for everyone.


We are joining the Thankful Thursday blog hop at Brian's Home.

We Lost By Treat Default

Merci:  I'm sure you were wondering where we were yesterday and why the cats wrote the first post of the year.  We drew straws.

Buddy:  No, we didn't.  We drew treats and the one who drew the chicken one would win for his team - Team Dogs or Team Cats.  But when it came Marcus's turn he ate the remainder of the treats, so we dogs lost by treat default.

Merci:  I was trying to be polite and keep us all from being embarrassed.

Marcus:  You just had to tell that story, didn't you!  You left out the part that I was late to the meeting and I missed the instructions.  I thought you were all just being generous when you passed the covered bowl to me.

Merci:  We haven't been doing much of this lately.  Walking, I mean, not standing around posing for dumb pictures of Marcus sleeping upright. I wonder how he does that?

Buddy:  The new year came in with a lot of rain, so we were doing a lot of this.

Marcus:  And this.  See, I really do like my crate even when Jan is home and the door is open.

Buddy:  We want to start the new year by giving you as big a laugh as the cats did yesterday.

Merci:  So we're posting this America's Funniest Video of Dogs Discovering Snow.

Marcus:  If this doesn't make you laugh, you might want to check your pulse to be sure you're still with us cause we were all rolling on the floor.


If the video doesn't play, click here.

Great View of 2017

Cyndi:  Hi, there.  Haven't seen you in ages.  At least since last year.

Micah:  Cyndi, last year was only 3 days ago.

Cyndi:  It still applies.  I want to share one of my new favorite perches.  I thought the top perch of the cat tower was high but one day I discovered I could push aside the curtain between the living room and the back porch and climb onto the top of our blankets and supplies storage bins.

From here I could jump across to the top of the bathroom door and onto an even higher shelf behind the door.  Until Jan caught me and blocked the route.

Micah:  Percy is the door sitter in our house.  Jan was surprised a 13 year-old cat would take it up, but Cyndi doesn't let her age get in the way of her renewed drive to explore

Cyndi:  I really like it up here.  It's like sitting on top of a mountain with peace and quiet and a great view.

Micah:  Yes, if you like viewing the litter pans.

Cyndi:  Sometimes Micah joins me but usually we take turns.

Micah:  Yes.  Here Cyndi is on top of the storage bins and I am on top of the cat tower.  

Cyndi:  Yep, it was just the two of us until we were ready to post this picture and we realized Percy is in it too.  Can you find Percy?  You can click on the pic to enlarge it. We'll tell you where he is at the very end of this post, in case you can't find him. 

Micah:  We want to begin 2017 with some laughter, so here is a cats will be cats video.


If the video doesn't play, click here.

Cyndi:  Percy is sitting on the desk next to the computer.  On the left below where Micah is perched.