By Sweetie, Personal Trainer and Fitness Guru.

Good morning, Friends.
You may not remember my previous blog when I put the boys who were substantially lazy and overweight on a program to get fit.  Well, if you would like to read it and my plan to get them into shape click here and here.  

It has finally paid off.  Yes, between Grammy's monitoring and doling out their meals in smaller portions throughout the day and mine to keep them exercised they have lost a whopping 1.8 lbs.  That's a little less than a kilogram but hey.  Doctor White coat said they shouldn't lose too quickly and 10% was the maximum they should lose within a year.  Well, it took us close to two years but we have done it  That is what Etude lost.  Rondo lost just under 11%.  So now they are on an maintenance program which means they get about 1/10th more food a day.  BUT the exercise program continues.  We don't want any backsliders.  No siree.

Grammy mentioned to me the other day that she has noticed they are playing more,chasing plastic coils and fuzzy mousies (No, not our fuzzy Mousie) and other toys and all this without me prodding them. 

Grammy tried to capture one of them, Etude, to be exact, playing with a coil.  But then the silly thing dropped it.  The phone!  She dropped the phone.  Oh, Grammy, don't use your arm as an excuse.  You just got clumsy.  I saw you.   Yes, she dropped it and it seems she didn't think about what was being picked up in the video.    We have told her she must either redo the video or edit it.  Silly woman didn't consider  her laundry was hanging on the drying rack with her unmentionables in full view.  How gauche can the old girl be?  Unbelievable!  So, considering her ineptness I deleted the video. 

You'll just have to take my word for it.  I have to tell you though... Etude was so cute with his belly swaying like a hammock on a windy day, so proud of himself capturing the elusive coil.  Not only that I'm sure the whole world heard him as he announced it to Grammy. 

Next on the agenda.... Grammy.  "Hey, Grammy, get in here!"  Grammy?  Now where did she go?  GRAMMY?

Check out the photos of my fitness gymnasium and the boys after their weight lifting program.   The first is from when Whiskers was still with us.  Look how cute she is in her sweatband.  *Giggles*

Well, that's it for this week folks.   We love you.  See you in November.

By Mousie, chronicler of mischief and mayhem.

Hello dear friends.
I'm not going to mention what happened to everyone's lives this year... but just touch on our summer and up to now.


First and foremost, spring for us was not nice.  Grammy, the old dear, had been battling fatigue since the previous October and finally they had a diagnosis.  Along with it came a need to isolate since it was another autoimmune issue and with meds she would be further immune compromised.  Little did we realize this would last for months and is still on-going due to these other 'issues'. 

For us it would be great.  We had Grammy home 24/7 except for medical appointments, bloodwork and visits to the pharmacy for meds.    How delightful.  Grammy would rub our tummies, brush us, feed us meals and treats and totally pamper us.

Little did we realize that she'd knit more than mollycoddle us.  Yes, that's what the old dear did.  When she was tired she slept and when she was up she knitted.  Bah humbug! That wasn't the plan we had in mind.  But knit she did.  And care for Whiskers until she passed in July, of course.  This went on through spring and into August.  

Then one day she got a brilliant idea.  She decided to hammer the floor with her body.  Why?  No idea! How her brain works, or doesn't is another question we cannot answer.  Silly woman.  So, the floor won.  No more knitting for a while! 

Yahoo! More cuddles for us, we thought. 

Nope!!! 

The old dear started reading borrowed ebooks from her local library.  Well, that took care of that!  At least she would pet us in between page changes on the iPad.  All was not lost... just not as perfect as we'd anticipated.

Well, the broken bone has healed but it will take a while to get the use of her shoulder back.  That's okay.  She can still pet us. 

But unfortunately, she's back to knitting.  Grrrr!

Oh, and just so you know... Sweetie isn't allowed to assist with the knitting so she's a grumpy puss.  The boys are still big bullies.   Lucky for Grammy I'm perfectly sweet.

Comments are welcomed. 

by Gentle Mousie, cutiepie and tail chaser.

Good morning, friends.  We'll keep this short since it is hard for Grammy to use the keyboard.   The old girl's arm is purple from shoulder to wrist and has a long way to go before the broken humerus bone heals.  Her wrist has to rest on the keyboard to allow her fingers to type... tiring and somewhat painful.   BUT, she insisted I tell you she watched me chasing my tail again the other day. 

I like chasing it.  It teases me as it wiggles and wafts elusively past my paws.  I cannot help it.  Grammy laughs because when I do finally catch it and bite it  I yelp!   I keep forgetting it is attached to me.  *giggles* 

Enjoy the photos... and hopefully we'll be back next week with another short blog.

Comments are welcomed.  Keep them cute like Sweetie and me or funny like Etude and Rondo.

Dear Friends.  

We are cheating here... and borrowing and modifying this from our FB post.  We will put our blog on hold again for a while. Typing is challenging for Grammy since she fell last week.  But, we had to let you know we aren't ignoring our friends.

Grammy injured herself in another in-house accident and is keyboard challenged. Actually, she is everything challenged as she figures things out.

Never fear. She will find a way for most things and for the important things she cannot manage she has wonderful neighbours. For her health care the hospital has arranged a PSW, and a PT to get her back in working order. Sweetie and Mousie are on nursing duty and we boys are providing lots of kisses and cuddles.

The old dear saw the orthopaedic doctor this morning.  While her activities are limited she may use the left hand so long as she keeps the shoulder stable and the arm supported.  And he gave her an exercise to keep the shoulder from freezing up.  No wild stuff though...  YOU HEAR THAT, GRAMMY? ...Luckily she is right-handed for most things.  And knitting is a go if she feels up to doing some.  The happy face is visible once more. 

Never fear, the klutz will be back to her hopefully less-clumsy self by end of October if she behaves.

Meantime know that we love you, our dear friends.

Sweetie, chronicler of Important Dates and especially Mischief.

Good morning, friends. 

We've been gone most of the summer... but we're back.  We cannot promise to be back weekly but we'll do our best to keep Grammy in line.  She is still knitting like crazy... nothing new there but in addition she's been busy with us. 

Firstly, Mousie had her birthday... August 10th is her designated date and this year she turned 10 years young.  She's such a precious little mischief.  We love her and hope despite her many health challenges she'll be with us for a long while yet. 

And I'm sure you all know that we lost our dear matriarch, Whiskers, 5 weeks ago.  We do miss her terribly but are happy she isn't in pain anymore.   Mousie is adjusting to life without her mummy... and has decided that Grammy is her new go-to for comfort, attention and cuddles.  Grammy is over-the-moon happy about this - even when it means Mousie disturbs her sleep in the night for kisses and head butt or sits paws on her arm so she cannot knit.  The old 'pay attention to me' trick and with that adorable face how can Grammy refuse?  That's right.  she cannot.

And since we are on the subject of Mousie...  Well, she is now our eldest kitty and should take on the title of Matriarch of Mischief but she is so tiny and so frail  the crown seems a little heavy for her head.  She is happy to pass it on but to whom?  Me?  No thank you.  I'm the youngest... and am not quite ready for it.   So should it be passed to one of the boys... Patriarch of Mischief?   Heaven forbid!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Maybe we ought to go to a democratic system.  What do you think?  Maybe we'll retire the 'ruler over all' society and just go with our group name... Mischief and Mayhem Central.   Members all in equal standing/sitting/lying down... whatever position we are in. 

Yes, I think that's it.    Of course that makes for a problem when we come to a vote - 4 members / 4 votes / 2 girls / 2 boys.  So.... what do we do to break a tie should there be one?   Pass it to Grammy?  *grimaces and groans all round*

What's that, Rondo?   

You don't think we'll ever have fun again if Grammy makes the decisions??  Well, it hasn't stopped us in the past.  Even when she squashed our plans we ignored her and went ahead with the mischief without her consent.

Etude? You have something to contribute? 

We should rotate monthly as Group Leader - and during our tenure as GL we get 2 votes?  

That sounds ominous - especially if you boys hang together... You'll outweigh us every time.   Oh, what am I saying?  You boys outweigh us anyway.  In fact, you outweighed us when there were three girls and only two of you. 

Well, I guess we'll have to toss this around for a while... but the day is moving on and Grammy wants to too.  Yes, that infernal knitting!!!!   Will it ever end?  Not likely!  But it keeps her happy and out of our hair when Mischief and Mayhem are on the menu. 

Have a happy day, week.... dear friends... We are thrilled to be back.

P.S.   And before we close .... Happy Birthday, Aunty Mommy Person,  aka Aunty Maron, Virgin Islands. 

Comments are welcome.  Especially if they are funny, punny or just plain adorable.

by Rondo, Chronicler of All Things Mischief and Mayhem

Good morning, dear friends.
For those of you who follow us on Facebook you may have noticed that we are not on social media as much as usual.  Well, this is not OUR choice.  As usual, Grammy has her priorities messed up.  We thought we'd sorted things out with her and she understood that Monday morning belongs to us, as does Monday afternoon and evening.  Also, Tuesday through Sunday midnight to 11:59 PM is our time.  No disputes.

Since Grammy has been home for weeks on end she has stepped up the knitting... you know... that boring hobby of hers.  It wouldn't be boring if we were allowed to play with said yarn and chew the needles and cables. What's that you say, Grammy?  It isn't a hobby it is a pastime?  A way to pass the time?   To us it seems more of an obsession.  Yes, it does!

Pshaw!  Put it that way and we SHOULD BE YOUR PASTIME! Any time you have should be spent taking care of us not playing with balls of yarn and needles.  You know... Needles are dangerous. They have points that could harm us.  Anyway, the issue is this.  You spend too much time knitting and not enough caring for us. 

Now what!???  Oh, Grammy!  The fact we sleep 22 hours a day has nothing to do with it.  We are a 24/7/365 commitment and you are failing to provide this service.

Evidence?  You are asking for evidence?  Well, here goes.   And remember, you asked for it!
1.  We only get 6 meals a day - definitely not enough.  There's a gap in there - between 2 AM and 7 AM - when we get NOTHING, not a bit of kibble, not  a dish of pate, nothing...  and you expect us to thrive???

2.  Litter boxes are only scooped once daily - and if truth be told - we've noticed a couple of times it only happened on the SECOND day. This is unacceptable.  Our delicate paws should NEVER have to step into a dirty box.

3.  Grooming has dropped to an all-time low of once a month, if that!  Do you realize what that does to our beautiful fur suits? Total mess!  And, yes, we have to groom ourselves.  Then the fur gets ingested by us and we have to upchuck the mess in obscure places so as not to hear you moan and groan about cleaning up the floor.  Hey, it isn't our fault if you step into the soggy mess.  You complain when we upchuck ON the floor, so your sandals ...    Make up your mind... floor, sandal, pick a place.  The bottom line is this wouldn't be happening if you were doing your part.

4.  Cuddle time has dropped to an all-time low.  Yes, it has, Grammy.  What happened to 5 kitties getting 2 hours a day of cuddles and pets and snuggles.  Now, if we are lucky we get 5 minutes before you toss us to the floor and pick up that danged knitting again.

5.  And to top it all off you insist on an afternoon nap. The bed is OURS during the day.  You waltz into the bedroom, scatter us to the four winds and stretch out.  What are we to do?  Huh?  We don't want the other three dozen cat beds and perches.  THAT BED is OURS during the day!  Isn't it enough you get it from 2 AM to 7 AM?  Scandalous! 

Sorry, folks.  You didn't really need to hear this... but she kept interrupting.  I had to set her straight.  I tell you, she's a piece of work.

So, friends, if you don't find us on social media very often, please forgive us.  We are dependent on the charlady/scribe for most things... and social media is one that we cannot manage on our own.   We will be back once we get the old dear sorted... but it may take us most of the summer.   Our apologies.

As a consolation, please enjoy our YouTube Videos.

Comments are welcomed.

by Whiskers, Matriarch of Mischief.

Happy Monday, dear friends. 

We have decided to take it easy on Grammy today.   She is on a roll with her knitting and we wish to support this.  Maybe if we do she'll make us some nippy mice to play with or give us extra treats.  What do you think? 

So instead of a long blog we are going to cut it short and give you a video slideshow to watch... it is a repeat but from a while ago so hopefully it'll feel new again.  As you know, Grammy loves living in the city.  It is close to amenities, has great health care, and has a vibrancy that energizes her.  This video is from Grammy's many walks around her neighbourhood and to and from appointments.

So without more ado, here is the link to our Youtube video Toodling around Toronto.
 
Have a wonderful day. 

Comments are always welcomed.

By Sweetie, Chronicler of all things Grammy and Mischief Extraordinaire

You all must know by now that our Grammy is a knitter.  If you didn't this is where you can get more than you'll ever want to know about it.  *giggles* 

First off, Grammy tends to go overboard with things.  These 'things' started when she was young. For example. First was it was books and classical records.  and those would be books by a particular author or on a specific subject.  Music was mostly Tchaikovsky and Beethoven, Chopin and Haydn. Music she could do homework with or study.  Oh my!  She had quite the collection.  Over last 25 years she has downsized considerably but even so she still has a sizable library of books and CDs... more suited for her small condo.  Has she read all these books.  Well, probably not all, but a good many.  The music is listened to regularly... though when she is lazy she puts the classical radio station on and let's them do the work.

Then, she got into fostering kitties, starting with 2 rescued kitties which over time grew to a maximum of 11 fosters at any one time.  From there she started writing biographies for the rescue organization after which she was pulled into doing interviews of prospective adopters and making decisions on who could or couldn't adopt based on the rescue's policies.  Well, let's say this... The final result was us!  A little overprotective when she couldn't give us up to other adopters. 

Well, she's done something similar ... this time with knitting.  Grammy watched her own Grammy knit when she was a child but started crocheting and knitting as a young adult. This was put on hold for years at a time to allow for university years, career,  aging parents.  Then in the early 2000s out came the hooks and needles and those on-hold items were finished off and donated to charity. 

Having gotten the bug again and wanting to supplement her soon-to-be pension she made the decision to open an Etsy shop - since closed. What orders come in actually  are by word of mouth now.  Yes, we kitties are expensive and a little extra income would really  help with food and vet bills.  BUT, then things got crazy or should we say, Grammy went crazy?

She found a few patterns she liked, knitted them up and during the first few years put them into the shop.  Sales came in slowly but steadily and for the first year or two she did okay. No fortune but a little extra.

Yarns Grammy liked weren't necessarily what customers liked so Grammy started visiting yarn shops - both on-line and in the neighbourhood to add variety to her 'stash'... acrylics, alpaca, silk, linen, bamboo, merino, highland wool, baby llama, cashmere, combinations of same and the list goes on.  Why, you ask?  Because everyone has likes and preferences and what Grammy liked a client might not whether colour, weight, yarn type.  Variety would give more options and hopefully more clientele.  But note this - the only thing she refuses to knit is cotton.

The old girl has an absolute love of multicoloured yarns too so a plethora of solids, tweeds, self-striping, colour blends (aka colourways), variegated, and so much more found their way to Grammy Ds Knitting Bag.  Well, bottom line before you know it she had bins - yes, 20 bins of yarn.  

She did the same with her accessories.  She added to what she already had - needles in all sizes: bamboo, steel, aluminium, double-pointed, straight (not a favourite), circulars, interchangeables.  Then there were the open markers, ring markers, cable needles, working yarn holders, measuring tape, blocking mats and pins, a yarn swift and yarn winder and a hamper to hold the current project(s).  Oh, and buttons - yes, all kinds of buttons for the various sweaters and other projects in her plans. The woman went nuts.  

You might ask, Does she use all of these and the answer is a resounding YES! Over time she is using them. Of course she has her favourites: the interchangeable circulars - both in steel and in wood - wood for slippery yarn and steel for textures and the others all have their purposes which we won't bore you with today.  But trust us, she uses them.  We steal them and she scolds us.  *giggles*

Over these dozen years and more, yarn has come in, been used, projects have been started and completed, a few started and put on hold.  Some were sold, others donated and others given away..  And then there is the yarn that has come and sat and a few projects have been started and left partially finished and still more yarn coming in leaving Grammy and her knitting in a mess.

Yes, a major mess.  Yarn was tossed willynilly into bins.  - OH, and then there were two large donations of yarns for her volunteer knitting projects - another BIG Bin  and another BIG Obsession! 

So, where has that left us?  In a major jumble. 

Thus, while we have all been in quarantine or lockdown or whatever you want to call it Grammy has decided to use the time to get herself organized or at least somewhat. 

Anyone know about Ravelry?  It's a knitting site where you can organize yourself, save patterns you like, keep track of yarn, meet up with other like-minded crafters, see what others are making, and match patterns to yarns and ORGANIZE your own 'stuff'.

 There are multiple pages - one for yarn (called STASH)- we love the name.  Another for projects - where you can track yarn in use to an appropriate pattern and track your progress through to completion along with photos.  Another for accessories - to keep track of the needles, hooks, etc.   You can make friends, join like-minded groups and so much more.  AND many of the patterns are free - another bonus.

Well, Grammy has finished setting up her NOTEBOOK with the pages for STASH and PROJECTS.  That is, projects completed, others started but unfinished and those in snooze-mode while she catches up with the ones partially done.   AND the designated yarns for these snoozed and future planned projects are organized in designated bins with their patterns while unassigned yarns are organized by type in other bins.  Still to go are the pages for PATTERNS, QUEUE and LIBRARY.   As we said - somewhat organized - for now.

So where does that leave Grammy?  Well, she has about 300 projects completed (each listed once but anywhere between 1 and 100 items of the same type knitted eg. scarves, slippers, hats), 5 projects in the works, 6 more designated to start as soon as these are done and 6 snoozed projects to follow those.  That's 17 projects lined up... at anywhere from 70% completed to identified but not started as yet.  THEN there is the 5 plus kilometers of yarn waiting in the wings for projects yet to be determined.    At least now she knows what, when, and where. All she needs now is the how! 

How is she ever going to complete everything?  And HOW are we going to keep her from buying more yarn?  Well, the knitting is up to her and since she knits every day we think she'll finish those listed ones.  But we've confiscated the credit card and 'Stashed' it. *giggles* And we aren't telling her where. 

The problem is that she keeps finding new patterns she'd like to make and they get downloaded and filed in a binder or added to her QUEUE page to be made when everything else is completed... and the list is long.  AND no, we don't think she'll ever get through all those.

Oh, and the plan to supplement her income to pay for our care?  OUT the WINDOW!  If anything, she's spent more than she has made on her knitting supplies.   Why?  Because she doesn't like to charge people, prefers to make things she chooses to work on and then ends up giving away a lot of what she knits.  Silly Grammy!

And in all these years of knitting what has she made for us?  One knitted mouse, two crocheted blankets, and two goofy hats.

For those interested click here for a video of what she's completed and for future go to her Facebook page GrammyDsKnittingBag.

By Etude & Rondo - the handsome birthday boys.

Tomorrow Rondo and I, Etude, turn 9 years old.  We thought we'd take a page from Seville's blogs.  9 years, or 3285 days, or 78,840 hours, 4,730,400 minutes EACH.  We won't go into minutes or seconds because we were all born at different times of the day.  

Now, that is a lot of hours to live with Grammy.  A lot!   So, we had to come up with strategies to do so.  For the first 18 months life was easy, full of fun and companions to play and sleep with.  We had a revolving door of other kitties - kittens, moms, bachelors - to cuddle with, play with, sleep with, get into trouble, oops change that to mischief with.   That's over 4700 hours that we pretty much ignored Grammy, did what we wanted leaving around 65,700 hours. 

65,700 hours of dealing with a Grammy who controls our food, yells at us for picking on the girls and gets upset when we scratch furniture and walls.  Thankfully, we have perfected the ignoring Grammy techniques.  What are those techniques, you ask?

Well, here goes:

Sleeping:  56,700 hours  We sleep as much as possible, on beds, on chairs, in Whiskers' marshmallow, under the duvet tent, in the closet, all kinds of places... every single one of which is totally soft, warm, and comfortable.   That still leaves us with  9,000 hours.

'Playing' with the Girls' Necks: 900   Not that many when you calculate it over our lifetime.  Of course, Grammy says even 1 hour biting girls' necks in a lifetime is too many but hey, we have to entertain ourselves somehow. And when you break it down further that's only 300 hours for each girl over 9 years... only about 5 minutes a day.  Not so bad in our estimation.  That means they each have 23 hours 55 minutes of peace every day.  We'd work out some of those bitey necks on Grammy but she is bigger than us and controls our food.    And speaking of food...

Eating:  6,300   You know that Grammy gives us a lot of flack for being chubby boys, but truly...   Look at the numbers.  That's less than an hour a day when broken down over the years.  AND the old girl monitors our food so even if you did think it is a lot, the food doled out is minimal, minuscule and paltry.  She practically starves us.  We are wasting away.

Cuddling Grammy:  1600  (Well, we cannot ignore her completely.  Don't want her to think we don't appreciate her!) When you look at the stats you can see we are cuddle deprived.  Yes, we get less cuddle time than each of the girls get bitey-neck time.  That isn't much... and we think we deserve MUCH MUCH MORE! 

Of course, we would be more demanding of Grammy's time if we weren't so darned considerate.  We have to leave Grammy periods in the day for herself to do the dishes, clean the condo, pay the bills, make our meals, supervise the girls' meals (and they take a lot of supervising) and knit.

Now, if you've been calculating as we go you'll notice there is a discrepancy here of 200 hours... and those are VERY, VERY IMPORTANT.  Those are our birthday hours.  Yes, every year we get just 24 hours to celebrate our birthdays and we have to make the most of them.    

AND  in case you hadn't heard...TOMORROW is our 9th Birthday!  Yahoo! 

Grammy put together a slide show for us but something happened and it won't let her edit it to add, remove and reorder some of the photos..  We apologize that it is too long.

Comments are welcomed.

 by Sweetie, mischief maker extraordinaire

Good afternoon dear friends. 
As mentioned in our last blog I will share a few episodes of our adventures with you.

As you know the boys, Etude & Rondo, pick on Mousie when they are in teasing mode... and that happens often. You may remember Mousie has a beau.  Little Boy Cat has passed on but before this happened the boys tormented the couple. You can read about one episode in three parts: Invasion of the Interlopers, the Plan and The Plan Goes Awry. 

Whiskers, the Matron of Mischief, not to be outdone by the younger cats decided to have an adventure.   Read it in four blogs listed here:
Austria: Here I come
Austria II: Home at Last  
Austria III: The Adventuress Returns  
Austria IV: Home Hum!

We hope you'll enjoy reading (or rereading) our blogs.  Have a wonderful day, dear friends... and  we'll see you next week.

Comments are welcomed.