Jan is so Fired ... Again

Yep, that's me, Rusty, enjoying the great outdoors.  Jan let me out with the dogs the other day and was horrified some time later to look out the kitchen window and see me sleeping in my cathouse.  She had forgotten all about me.  But I didn't care.  I was happy ... happy .... happy.  

I love to roll in the dirt before and after sleeping with the cobwebs in my private clubhouse.  And then I make Jan pick me up to carry me inside just so I can share my fun all over her clothes.

Jan is finally starting to limp around again but the car is still sitting in the same spot she parked it 2 1/2 weeks ago.  And that's why Jan's been fired ... again.

We didn't have anything to do with firing her this time.  We were all inside the house at the time so she can't blame any of us.  We didn't even sneeze, snort, hoot or holler.  We watched through the screen door, so we did snort, hoot and holler after the fact, but we weren't the cause.

See, Mr Doug, has been coming by when he can to try to figure out the problem.  Last time he took some parts with him to check them.  Before he put one part back today, he wanted to see if it was stuck, so he asked Jan to turn the key but not start the engine.  Jan turned it to click.  Everything was quiet so she thought she hadn't turned it far enough.  Yep, she then turned it to the second click. 

And then it wasn't quiet any more.  Mr. Doug shouted, "You blew it up!"

He wasn't kidding.    On the second click, the spring and the rod had shot right off the part.. A stunned Mr. Doug collected the pieces while Jan encouraged him with, "Well, I guess it wasn't stuck."

Mr. Doug did reassemble the part.  But Jan is so fired ... again! 

We really need to find something she's good at.  We're going to have an inferiority complex if she keeps failing.

National Hairball Awareness Day

Today is National Hairball Awareness Day.  As Jan says, if you live with a cat, you're aware of hairballs.  (Cat hairball problems are just naturally common in cats, all cats, because of their self-grooming habits. Their rough tongues are made to clean themselves thoroughly and , in doing so, they ingest a lot of hair.)

Jan complains, if you live with a number of cats, you wish someone would invent a self-operating hairball sucker machine so you don't have to use a toothbrush to clean the air conditioning unit in the window, or step into a wet slipper in the middle of the night, or -.  As Buddy, Merci & Sam explain, if you live with cats, don't eat those icky things!  Let your human clean up the mess. (Hairballs generally consist of compacted fur, but they often also include food and a coating of mucus.)

We received a FURminator and Jan used it to brush the cats and create a Fur-lebrity.  (The most important and most effective way to prevent hairball formation is frequent grooming to remove the dead undercoat before it is swallowed.)

You might remember that we fired Jan because she isn't very creative and this was the best could come up with for the contest. 

We had a complaint from Bill Gaither's Homecoming Radio that we set Bill's popularity back 40 years.  Well, maybe not 40 years, but at least 40 minutes worth.  No one recognized him.

UPDATE: Um, before readers start stoning Bill or the Homecoming crew, the above is a joke.  No one - neither Bill nor anyone from HR - has complained.  In fact, Tori Taff, one of the co-hosts laughed so hard when she saw it, she asked permission and then posted it on Homecoming Radio's Facebook page.earlier this month.  Thankfully, they all have a good sense of humor, one of the reasons we picked Bill as our Fur-lebrity.  We'd seen Jan's previous artwork.  :)

Sam is still laughing at Jan's first attempt.  Cameron was our biggest fur contributor this year and he couldn't help it that he's a black tuxie dude.

The winner of the contest will be announced today, so be sure to check out FURminator's Facebook page. Even if you aren't on FB, you can still use the link to view their wall.

Thanks to Romeo the Cat and Furminator for allowing us to participate in the contest.  It's been fun.

April, Divas and New Blogger

Hey, Percy here.  We hadn't planned to post today but we were asked a question about the new Blogger interface and decided to put up a quick link that might help those of you who have recently been switched to the new Blogger interface and are having problems.  Your input and patience can help Blogger fix things.

But first we'd like to express our condolences to Amber DaWeenie's family..  The mom has been dealing with Benji's cancer and then April 's sudden illness.  April died at the vet's office yesterday and we know she is very missed!  Love, pawhugs and hugs to Mom Linda. 

We haven't been posting or commenting for a week or so.  Among other negatives, our car has been down for 2 weeks and Jan has been having to hike and haul, so her pain level is high and her sense of humor non-existent.  We're just trying to stay out of her way so she doesn't trip over us.  We advise you to do the same.

Oh, as most of you already know, today Truffle and Brulee are celebrating Show Your Diva in remembrance of Sweet Praline.  It's hard to believe it's been a whole year since she left.  Time passes, pain eases, but our furries are forever missed.

Even though we're behind in the news, we are aware Blogger has been shifting everyone over to the new interface and it's causing many headaches among bloggers.  We switched a number of months ago so we could try to learn the new while still having access to the old when necessary.   And sometimes it was necessary.

Hopefully, this article can explain enough to help you weather the problems associated with the changes.  You aren't the only ones having them, so they will have to be fixed sooner or later.

Better Get Into The New Blogger GUI Soon - And Tell Blogger What Problems You Find

You can browser the problems in the link they give or join the group and post your own. As irritated as we get with Blogger sometime, when it works it's good. And within our budget. (Free.)

Now I'm crossing my paws and hoping this actually publishes.

Waiting for Calming

The nice folks at Pet Naturals of Vermont sent us dogs sugar free chicken liver flavored Calming chews.  We appreciate that instead of just one size, they sent a size for each of us: XL (over 75 lbs.) for Sam; Medium & Large (26 - 50 lbs.) for Buddy: Small (up to 25 lbs.) for Merci. 

Do you notice which of us is always first to the edibles?  It used to be Buddy but Sam not only likes food, he likes to have his picture taken.

Shhhh, Sam, Jan is reading the list of ingredients: thiamine (vitamin B1), l-theanine, colostrum calming complex, brewers yeast, canola oil, chicken liver flavor, etc.

We're waiting.  Are you done reading yet, Jan?

Jan put out a sample of each and they disappeared so fast she never did get a shot of them.  But who cares what they look like?  How they taste is what we care about.

Jan especially wanted to try these for Buddy because he has terrible separation anxiety.  He's doing better - less hysterical if she walks out the door without him, but he says he'll never stop leading us in singing at the top of our lungs for her to get back in the house!  (She doesn't mind very well.  Where is Cesar Millan when a dog needs him to train a human?)

****UPDATE: We had a question asking if Buddy doing better when Jan leaves is directly related to the treats.  Buddy is going to be upset with whoever ruins his macho image, so we'll let that be Jan.  Take it away, Miss Tattletale.

Jan:  Buddy is a problem "child" with issues from being abandoned when he was 3 or 4 weeks old.  He is terrified to be alone. He has always gotten hysterical if I even put him outside to go to the bathroom and stand inside the door instead of outside with him.  I have to stand outside with him in the pouring rain, freezing cold, wind or in my pajamas.  Nothing I've tried seemed to really help before but he has calmed down a bit on the Calming.  I could give a more definitive answer if he had been getting these regularly since they arrived, but I have to hide everything from Percy's claws and teeth and I sometimes forget to give Buddy his daily Calming.****


Visit Pet Naturals of Vermont and check out their cat and dog products.  (Cyndi and Cotton did a review on Calms for cats back on January 12.  When Jan hands out cat Calms, Percy races around after her hoping she'll forget he already had one.)

This is our experience with the product.  We were provided samples of the dog calms but were not paid for this review.