Mountain Cat View #WordlessWafflesWednesday

WAFFLES:  Wordless? Whaddya mean, wordless?

Room With A View

We've got some fun photos of Gloman's visit to share with you this week. Today's is a photo he took this morning of Waffles in his favorite window seat. Although a little blurry in the background, that's Rocky Mountain National Park's Long's Peak covered in snow just behind Waffles' ear tips.

With Gloman visiting, sunshine pouring in every window and blue jays singing in our pine trees, you could say we're in Mountain Cat Heaven.

Unpacking

WAFFLES:  So where's all the presents? The wand toys? The treats?

KATIE:  Presents? I'm more interested in tennis shoes. More specifically, shoelaces. 

WAFFLES:  Nothing in here but a bunch of camera stuff. What good is that?

KATIE:  And sandals. What good is footwear without shoelaces? 

Welcome Home, Gloman!
Gloman arrived Sunday morning for a week-long vacation visit. Even Glogirly is calling this week a vacation. And what would a vacation be without suitcases to investigate and unpack?

Waffles looked pretty disappointed at the lack of wand toys and catnip in Gloman's bag. And Katie...well she had her sights set on Gloman's tennis shoes. But he's got her number, so they're safely stashed behind closed doors.

Toys and tennies aside, everyone is SUPER happy to see Gloman and looking forward to a fun-filled week!

Is He Here Yet?

KATIE:  So Waffles, is he here yet?

WAFFLES:  Who, the man in brown shorts? Is he bringing me my new cat tree? 

KATIE:  Waffles, you have more cat trees than you can count. I'm not talking about the man in brown shorts.

 WAFFLES:  Oh, you mean the man in purple shorts? I bet he's got my–

KATIE:  No, Waffles. Enough with the online shopping already. Gloman! Gloman's coming to see us. For a whole week. 

WAFFLES:  I call firsties! I call firsties!

KATIE:  Pretty sure Glogirly gets firsties, Waffles. But don't worry, there's enough of Gloman for all of us. Still, you better get in line. 

A Spring in Our Step

We're SO excited to see Gloman! If absence makes the heart grow fonder, where Waffles is concerned, it also makes the lap-time that much more sweet. But it's really Katie and Gloman that have something special. Whenever he comes to visit, or we visit Minneapolis, Katie's face just lights right up. She trots over to him, with a spring in her kitty-step, rolls onto her side so he can pet her and give her love. She's truly a Cat Daddy's Girl.

Whose Pod is it Anyway? And a Special Glogirly Thank You

WAFFLES:  Don't look now...the Boss is coming and I bet she wants my blue pod.

KATIE:  YOU'RE blue pod??? Waffles, why is it that every pod in this house is yours? We've got more pods than you can count. Pink, blue, white, brown...and still, somehow they're all yours.

WAFFLES:  You forgot about the orange one, Boss.

About Today's Photos

One thing's for sure about Waffles - he's Katie's biggest fanboy. Whatever she has, he wants. Wherever she is, he wants to be.

We forgot to tell you this funny story about our road trip back from Minneapolis to Colorado. After a few hours in the car, we stopped for gas and bathroom breaks. That included Katie and Waffles. With the car doors safely shut, Glogirly reached around back to let them out of their Sleepypod carriers so they could explore the car and hopefully use the litterbox that sat in the far back of our hatchback.

Katie popped out of her pod right away and wasted no time taking care of her business.

Waffles jumped right out of his pod too. But instead of exploring the car, looking out the windows or venturing back to the litter box, he immediately hopped into Katie's pod and settled right in. He had no intention of getting out.

A Special Thank You From Glogirly

We're pretty sure you'd all agree with us that Cat Ladies (and Cat Guys too) are the best kind of people there are.

Last week the big BlogPaws Pet Blogging Conference took place in Myrtle Beach, SC. This was the first time in 5 years that Glogirly was not able to attend. She was definitely missing her cat blogging friends and apparently they knew it.

Yesterday when she picked up the mail she found the most wonderful surprise. It looked like a card, but she couldn't imagine who it would be from or who would even have our new address. When she opened it up and saw, "Wish you were here at Blog Paws! We miss you!" and special hand written notes from each of her cat blogging friends...well, let's just say there were lots of tears. We think it's safe to say this unexpected gesture of friendship and kindness touched her heart very deeply.

She immediately grabbed her Sharpies, made a big Thank You sign and took a selfie with her cat ears to share with her friends on Facebook.

P.S. Waffles has been laying either on or next to the card ALL day. It must be filled with lots of wonderful cat mojo. ...or just another thing he's decided to claim as his.

Pioneer Cats - Behind the Scenes of the BIG Snow

KATIE:  Many of our friends and readers heard about the big spring snowstorm we had here in Colorado last week. It was so bad in fact, that we had to enlist the help of Faraday from A Tonk's Tail to post a snow update for us on our blog Friday. 

WAFFLES:  You mean on account of we were too busy laying around by the fire to do our own blog?

KATIE:  Not exactly.

WAFFLES:  You mean on account of there was no electricity or internet or TV or Netflix or anything and all we could do was lay around by the fire and look at these weird paper things with words on them?

KATIE:  You mean books? 

WAFFLES:  Huh?

KATIE:  Waffles, I think the heat of the fire is impairing your–

WAFFLES:  What, the thermometer thingy says it's only 81 degrees by the fire. 

KATIE:  Exactly.

Roughing It

We're not afraid of a little snow. We're not even afraid of 3 feet of snow, which is how much fell on us in just a day and a half last Wednesday and Thursday. But it was heavy, wet and apparently did a number on our power company and their equipment.

Nearly our entire canyon was without power for anywhere from 12-24 hours. We never realized just how many things were tied to power up here up in the mountains. Although our heating source is propane gas, we need power to run the boiler. All of our water comes from our own well and in order to get it running in the house, we have a well pump that requires...you guessed it, power.

To make matters worse, when the power first came back on it only lasted about 60 seconds. Then there was huge BOOM. A nearby transformer had blown and we experienced a power surge that fried our boiler (our heat source), our well pump (our access to water) and even our kitchen cooktop. Two months ago, Glogirly had the power company install a whole-house surge protector so nothing like this would ever happen, but something went wrong.

We have a fireplace with a heating insert, so as long as we have wood, we can keep relatively warm. Right by the fire, it's super toasty. The rest of the house dipped down to about 55 degrees at it's coldest.


REALLY Roughing It
When you don't have running water though, it's like taking a step back in time to the days of pioneer cats.

Ok, sort of pioneer days. Glogirly couldn't take a shower, so she heated up water in the microwave (because the cooktop doesn't work) in order to take sponge baths without freezing. She had to do the same to clean our food dishes.

But then came the toilet.

Without running water, there's no flushing. You have to add water manually. And would you believe it takes about a whole gallon of water to flush the toilet just once?

We only had 7 one-gallon jugs of drinking and distilled water on hand. And we had no idea how long we'd be in this predicament, so in order to conserve water, Glogirly filled big plastic storage bins with snow to melt for water to flush the toilets. FYI - It takes a LOT of snow to yield just a teensy bit of water, so we had bins of snow all over the place. 

WAFFLES:  What's with all the snow, Boss?

KATIE:  It's so Glogirly can use the bathroom.

WAFFLES:  You mean like a LITTER BOX??? Won't that be really cold on her–

KATIE:  NO, Waffles. She's melting the snow so she can pour it into the toilet and have enough water to flush.

WAFFLES:  That's crazy. She should just use our box.

KATIE:  Trust me, I'm sure that thought has crossed her mind.

Back in Business, Almost
It was touch and go for awhile, but as of Sunday afternoon we had heat and water once again. It's going to be a couple of weeks on the cooktop though. Fortunately, the microwave and convection ovens are working just fine, so it's frozen TV dinners and Digiorno for the time being.


Scenes from the Big Snow
At the risk of making this the longest blog post in recorded history, we though you might enjoy a few photos of the aftermath.

WAFFLES:  Are you going to touch it, Boss? 

KATIE:  Of course I'm going to touch it. Aren't you going to touch it?

WAFFLES:  But it's...it's cold on my delicate toes.

KATIE:  Seriously, Waffles. Do I have to do everything around here?

Katie has left her mark.

The Deer Family stopped by for dinner.

The morning after.

Let the melting begin!

P.S.  Not to worry, the snow melts FAST here in the mountains. In fact, about half of it is already gone. With temperatures climbing to the 60s and even 70 by mid week, this soon will all be just a distant memory.

Breaking Mews: A Snowy Sighting!

We interrupt your regularly scheduled program for this Special Report:

GLOGIRLY SPOTTED DIGGING OUT OF COLORADO HOME

(okay, not really. This is just a cool stock photo we bought. But seriously, it could have been. Maybe.)

As some of you may have heard, on Thursday the GloHome™ was reported to be without power, without internet, and *gasp!* without Netflix.

Never fear, gentle readers, all is well.

Glogirly, Katie and Waffles are reported in stable condition, nice and warm inside.

And with 150 pounds of cat food in the freezer (plus one package of all-beef hot dogs for human consumption) they are well-equipped to weather the storm.

In fact, this reporter hears there's group cuddling happening by the fireplace.
Waff, dood, what gives? This intrepid reporter wants to know!  

Rest assured, regular programming will resume ... once Glogirly digs her way back to the front door.

Reporting live from Colorado, this is Field Reporter Faraday.

Now, back to you.

Counting Chickens #WafflesWednesday

WAFFLES:  One chicken, two chicken, three chicken, more. 

WAFFLES:  Five chicken, six chicken, uh... how many chickens???

WAFFLES:  ...how many chickens?

KATIE:  You can dream about chickens all you want, Waffles. The real deal is here in the kitchen. 

So about that 100 pounds of cat food...

One of the perks of visiting Minneapolis is our favorite pet food deli, Woody's. It's where we've been getting all of our food for the past couple of years. It's by far the best food we've ever had. Not only do Katie and Waffles love it, it's in our opinion, a gazillion times healthier than what the big pet food companies line the store shelves with. We like to refer to it as 'species-appropriate.' In layman terms, that means it's as close to what cats would eat in the wild as you can get. Everything they need and nothing they don't.

Sometime in the near future, we'll share some of the more technical aspects of why we believe in this food so much. And soon we're going to be VERY excited to share the news that Woody's will be shipping! That's right, our jealous friends from all over the country that don't have a Woody's near them, will soon be able to have this awesome food delivered to their doorstep. More to come on that!

(Oh, and we want to mention that Woody's is not sponsoring us or compensating us in any way. In fact they don't advertise at all. We just LOVE them so much, we can't keep our kitty lips sealed.)

Here's what 100+ pounds of food (actually closer to 150 since we already had a good supply on hand) looks like in our freezer. With the exception of a couple of frozen pizzas and TV dinners for Glogirly, everything you're looking at is cat food. Each of those white tubs contains 5 pounds of fresh, frozen ground chicken or duck. Duck for Katie's discriminating palate. And chicken of course, for Waffles. 

WAFFLES:  Whoa...that's a lotta, lotta chickens!

Does Our Mom Have Fur? A Special Mother's Day Conversation

KATIE:  So Waffles, did you do anything nice for Glogirly on Mother's Day?

WAFFLES:  Is Glogirly our mom? Because you know, she doesn't have fur or whiskers and her ears aren't pointy either.  She's not even, you know... a cat.

KATIE:  Waffles, mothers come in all shapes and sizes. Some have fur, some don't. You and I, we have a lot in common with Glogirly when it comes to moms.

WAFFLES:  Did Glogirly's mom have fur too???

KATIE:  No, silly. That's not what I mean. You and I both had kitty moms. That's how we were born. Our kitty moms were there when we took our first breath before our eyes were even open. 

Then when we were a few weeks old, we were adopted. That means Glogirly and Gloman chose us. To love with all their hearts, forever. 

When she was really little, Glogirly was adopted too. Her mom and dad chose her.

WAFFLES:  To love with all their hearts? Forever?

KATIE:  Now you're getting it, Waffles.

WAFFLES:  So since she was adopted too, did she have a kitty mom? 

KATIE:  Sort of. There was a brave young woman who knew she couldn't take care of Glogirly. Oh, she wanted to. She held her and looked into her eyes only once. And it was with the greatest of love that she gave Glogirly up so that a family could adopt her and take care of her forever.

WAFFLES:  So Glogirly had TWO moms that really loved her, just like us. And she's going to love us forever and forever.

KATIE:  Forever and forever, Waffles.

Another Mother

Many of our long-time friends and readers have read Glogirly's memoir, Another Mother. It's the true story of how she found and met her birth family. A few years ago, we took a break from our blog and published a chapter every few days. It's still in blog-form, but is on Glogirly's bucket list as a story she hopes to turn into a book.

Since we have some new readers, and because it's just a story we love so much, we decided to share it again. Some of you have asked about the photo on the cover. It really is Glogirly's birthmother as a young girl. 

If you have some quiet time this week, we invite you to find a comfy chair, with at least one cat, and curl up with a story of discovery and love we hope will touch your heart. 

Read Another Mother

Happy Belated Mother's Day

We're dedicating today's post to mothers, fathers, aunts, uncles, teachers, friends... to all the people who have inspired us to be true to ourselves, dream big and who've loved us unconditionally. 

Pillows, Pods and 100 Pounds of Cat Food

The drive home went incredibly smooth. Long, but smooth. 950 miles, 13 1/2 hours, including gas and litter box stops.

Katie and Waffles did great. They were even more relaxed than when we drove to Minneapolis. They both slept over half the way and when they weren't sleeping, they were just chilling out in their Sleepypods.

Once home, dinner was on the top of everyone's list. Both Katie and Waffles scarfed theirs down, did a quick cursory check of the house and headed off to their favorite resting spots. Even as we're writing this, Katie is resting on top of Glogirly's pillow. 

And Waffles... well he's in another pod.

KATIE:  So I guess 13 1/2 hours in your Sleepypod wasn't enough, huh Waffles? I can't believe you're sitting in another pod.

WAFFLES:  I'll trade you my blue felt pod for Glogirly's pillow.

KATIE:  Dream on, Waffles. I'm not even going to let Glogirly use it.

What Does 100 Pounds of Cat Food Look Like?

One of the bonuses to driving back to Colorado from Minneapolis is being able to load up the car with our favorite cat food. The night before we left town, Glogirly stopped at Woody's Pet Deli to pick up her special order. 50 pounds of cooked ground duck for Katie and 50 pounds of raw ground chicken for Waffles. 

Good thing we have a full-size freezer back home. This is enough food to last us about 6 1/2 months. That is unless Waffles cracks the code to the freezer door. 

In case you're wondering... Glogirly didn't leave the food in the car overnight. She loaded it into plastic bins, heaved it onto an apparently flimsy luggage cart, and gingerly wheeled it 3 blocks down the main drag of downtown Minneapolis from her parking spot to the apartment building. And then up 24 floors. Word on the street is that more than one of the bins slid onto its side and more than one of the frozen food containers rolled underneath her car. HBO words were used. Repeatedly. 

Waffles is Packing - And a Happy Katie Update

WAFFLES:  Are you packed yet, Boss? 

KATIE:  We're not leaving until Thursday, Waffles. There's plenty of time to pack later. 

WAFFLES:  But we need to make sure we don't forget anything. 

KATIE:  Or anyone.

Katie & ETA Update

Thank you so, so much for your sweet and heartfelt comments for Katie. She is feeling much better after her vet visit on Monday. It was a rough day for everyone...as it turns out, Katie had a pinto bean-sized "stone" that had to be expressed from her anal gland. Yeah, it was as horrifying as it sounds. But fortunately the relief came very quickly. She's starting to eat her regular food (and some chicken baby food as a special treat) and has returned to her regular routine of window watching and sun bathing. She was very quick to forgive Glogirly for the sudden trip to the cat clinic.

It was a 2 for 1 and Waffles got his annual wellness exam while we were there. He's a strapping, healthy 10 1/2 pound hunk of a mancat. 

We're very thankful we were able to see a vet Waffles and Katie are familar with here in Minneapolis. She's incredibly gentle, thoughtful and goes above and beyond to make even the most scared kitties as comfortable as possible. 

We've revised our travel itinerary and plan to leave for Colorado this Thursday if all goes well. 

Delays & Detours

KATIE:  I'm not quite done here, Waffles. Colorado will have to wait a few more days.

WAFFLES:  So I get to lay on Gloman's lap even longer?

KATIE:  Take a number, Waffles. He's a little tied up right now.

WAFFLES:  Number? 

Like 7? 

3?

Elebenty hundred? That's my lucky number.

Just a Little Change of Plans

We were set to leave Minneapolis for Colorado this past weekend, but at the last minute decided to stay a few more days. Miss Katie wasn't feeling well over the weekend. Nothing serious, but it's a pretty long car ride when you're feeling good, so when you're a little under the weather it's just no fun at all.

Just to be on the safe side, we'll be popping in for a visit with our Minneapolis vet on Monday.  

So in the meantime, our big order of cat food is being held in the freezer for us at Woody's Pet Deli and everyone has a few more days to hang out together, vying for a space on the cozy ottoman while Glogirly catches up on her work.

WAFFLES:  All this work is making me sleepy.

KATIE:  Waffles, I really doubt work has anything to do with it.

Updates

We'll be sure to keep you posted on how Katie's doing and when we decide to leave for the mountains. Thanks so much for visiting!