StrangeRanger

Now We Are Six

How time flies.  Maddie is now six years old, and she's been with us for five of them.  We are really and truly blessed that we lucked into this cat.

Thank You.

We are enthralled by Maddie's joyous and loving personality, which is on constant display (save for when she's noticing Ivy)(egads) at rest or at play or at the food bowl.

In honor of the glorious day we got Maddie a thick slice of turkey, which she'll spend a few days devouring.  We also got an interesting little semi-self spinning feather toy.  I took some video which I'll put up on YouTube from work next monday (if I try it using the dial-up from home it'll *never* get done)(and the T-1 line at work does *not* suck).  Also got footage of Maddie going to town on her freshly catnipped cardboard scratching pad which I'll post then too. 

Anyway, Happy Birthday to Maddie, and many many happy returns of the day.

Saving Private Frisky

...or Desperately Seeking Frisky, or Finding Frisky Forrester or Looking for Mr. Friskybar...I could go on for days...  Anyhoo, with the Traumatic News from last weekend, the crew here at StrangeRanger knew we couldn't sit idle while Lair's favorite Fluffyboy was wandering lost, victim of a canine outrage.  Taking matters into their own paws, Maddie and Ivy Sprang Into Action Leaving No Stone Unturned, No Cranny Unsearched, No Shoe Unsniffed:

He's not in here!

He wasn't under the couch!

Is he under the bed?  Nope!

Is Frisky in my carrier?  I don't see him.

Not here either

Maybe he's in the TV room?

No sign of him in here!

I wonder where Frisky could be...

Maybe he's in our closet.

If he's not in the house, he must be <gulp>  OUTSIDE!  We sure hope he's safe! 

FRISKY COME HOME!

Needless to say, everyone here was quite relieved when the Professional Cat was found and returned to his loving home none the worse for wear.  We hope the IFOC family is never again forced to live through such uncertain and distressing times.

Whole Lotta History

Update on Ivy time.  She's doing well, eating her way up to 10 pounds, playing with a feather toy now and then, and looking out the window much of the day.  She spends a lot of time watching us from her bed under the TV:

You guys sure are boring. 

Anyway, we got to thinking:  the vet says that Ivy is about 15 years old, and that means our girl has seen some pretty important history.  Given a birthday in 1991, those lovely golden eyes have seen:

1991:  the Dissolution of the Soviet Union     1992:  the Rodney King riots     1993:  the birth of the World Wide Web and the Letterman Show     1994:  The whole OJ Simpson mess and a comet hitting Jupiter     1995:  the Oklahoma City Bombing and the end of Calvin and Hobbes  1996:  the victory of Deep Blue and the arrest of the Unabomber    1997:  the birthday and sailing of Old Ironsides     1998:  Omagh and the breakup of The Spice Girls    1999:  the debuts of the Euro and The Matrix     2000:  the Cannonization of Tsar Nicholas II and his family and the Tally Hassle in Tallahassee  2001:  the descent of the Mir and 9/11     2002:  Afghanistan and the death of Stephen Jay Gould  2003:  the Columbia disaster and the End of Buffy      2004:  The International Year of Rice and the ascent of SpaceShip One    2005:  B16 and the last of Trek

Ivy has had a wild enough ride.  She's seen enough to make a kitty take an extra long nap.  She's seen workouts go from aerobics to pilates, diets go from lo-fat to lo-carb, she's seen the Broncos finally win the SuperBowl, and she hopes to live long enough to see the Cubs win the Series.  Just when she thought that Indurain was as good as it got, along came Armstrong.  And she's not talking about Floyd yet. 

We hope Ivy sees a lot more history.  Happy history.

Maddie hasn't seen nearly as much history, but she doesn't appear to be losing any sleep over it.

zzzzzzzzzzz

What History has Your cat seen?

Frisky Come Home!

We here at StrangeRanger want to wish Lair, Gina, Piper, and Nardo lots of luck.  Their fluffyboy Frisky has gone MIA after an encounter with an unleashed Chihuahua.  Thoughts and prayers to the Professional Cat and hopes for his speedy and safe return home.

UPDATE:  Frisky's been Found!!  Gina found him in the bushes a row over, and no harm done.  There is no truth to the rumors that a couple of scantily-clad Houston-Area-Pro-Football-Cheerleaders were chased out of the nearby lounge chairs, or that Frisky refused to share the tequila.  Anyway, the Professional Cat is home, safe and sound.  Butter and Parmesan all around.

I love a happy ending.

Another Normal Week

It's been an interesting week here at Chez-Ranger.  LadyRanger has been at work, I've been back in the classroom, and the girls have been in their respective corners.  We've had some hissing again, and some stare-downs:

Afterwards we usually get a period of quiet, with both girls doing their own thing without having to look at each other:

Obviously, things haven't changed much around here.