Houston... we have a problem

And it's name is the peep.  Peep #1, to be exact.

But we've got some super-duper good news, too.  Let's start with some of that.

See that picture of me?  Isn't it great?  It's my new avi for twitter where, as you probably know, I am known as @nerissathecat.  Katie's mom made it for me and she did the most amazing job.  You see, a few weeks ago, Katie and her mom were having a week of giveaways to celebrate their new shop, GLOGIRLY DESIGN.  I was one of the winners!  Yoo-hoo!  YOO-HOO!!!  That's right, GLOGIRLY did up this wonderful GLOGIRLY DESIGN Personalised Profile Avatar just for me.  And I love it to bits!  Thanks so much Katie and Katie's mom.  You're both FANTASTIC!!!

Okay...  more good news.  I won two more awards.  That's right...  another two!  I won the Blog on Fire and the One Lovely Blog awards.  I had been given the One Lovely Blog Award before but this one has a different design and so...  well...  I thought it would be a nice addition to my little blog roll of awards on my blog.  No one minds, do they?

Now we come to the first problem...  That peep of mine took so darned long to help me post my thank yous and accept my awards that...  well...  Oh, all I can do is lower my head in shame.  I don't even know who gave me the second One Lovely Blog Award.  I can't believe I do not know this.  It's all the peep's fault.  Really, it is.  She should have written it down for me or something.  I searched all over the Internet all day long yesterday and I just couldn't find the information I needed.  I am so sorry.  I am so very, very sorry.  If the cat who gave me this award reads this post, please let me know who you are so that I can give you my proper thanks.  Please know that I appreciate the award.  And please know that this is all the peep's fault.  It is not mine!  It's never my fault, you know.  Never!

The good news is that I do know that Sammy from onespoiledcat gave me my new Blog on Fire Award.  It's a great award and I like it very much.  Thank you, Sammy.  Thank you, thank you, thank you!  Now, I'm supposed to tell you eight things about myself that are a little different or unusual.  Well...  here goes.

1.  I talk a lot to my peeps.  Little chirps and lots of big gigantic purrs.  I'm a very talkative cat.
2.  I potty trained myself!  Well, I litter box trained myself.  I was the first of my sibs to come into the
     house.  I came in even before my mama and I learned all about the litter box all on my own.
     Then I taught my sibs!
3.  I hate marinated varieties of Fancy Feast.   Love the grilled stuff but hate to the point of spitting
     out of my mouth the marinated ones.
4.  When I first came into the house to live, I slept with peep #1, right on top of her, for exactly one
     week.  That was nine years ago and I've never done it since.
5.  I like oregano.  I'm a huge fan of the nip - of course - but I won't say no to a little roll in the
     oregano patch, either!  Hehehe....
6.  My sister Tobias thinks I'm her mama.  She's always asking me to licka-da-top-o-er-head.  Talk
     about fur balls!
7.  At Christmas time, I play with the glass balls on the Christmas tree and I ALWAYS get away with
     it.  It's 'cause of my incredibly irresistible cuteness, you see.
8.  I am the chief mushroom burger griller at the #wlfbbq held every Sunday on twitter.  No one grills
     up the shrooms like I do.  Not even Barnabas and he's an excellent chef!  His specialty is grilled
     trout with nip sauce.

So there you have it!  My eight answers.

Now for more bad news.  Because the peep took so long to help me publish this post...  everybody already has this award.  And when I say everybody, I mean EVERYBODY!  MOUSES!!!  I am so very embarrassed.  I have never done this before but I am afraid I will have to, this one time only, leave this award up for grabs.  Again, I am so very, very sorry.  I feel like I've let you down, Sammy.  I'm so sorry...  So, if anybody doesn't already have this award and would like it, please feel free to grab it.  It's yours for the taking.  Again, I'm sorry.

And there's even more bad news.  Remember that goal of mine, from way back, to have someone from the Space Station reading my blog?  Well, it hasn't happened yet.  HOUSTON, WE HAVE A PROBLEM!  Don't they have the Internet in space?  Oh bother!

But now for some good news.  No, great news.  I just passed ten thousand hits on my blog!  Yeah, you heard that right...   TEN THOUSAND!!!  I'm so happy I'm walking on air.  If I'm not careful, I might just float right on up to that ol' space station myself.  I should get myself some breathing apparatus and whatnot, I think.

Anywho, to celebrate...  brand new award!  Even though my peep is - as you all know - a technologically impaired duffer, I managed to get her to design an award for me.  Those are my pansies from my garden and everything!  To accept the brand new Thinking of You award, one must link back to the one giving you the award, tell us all seven things you love and think about daily and then pass the award on to seven more blogs.

So, seven things I love.  Let's see...
1.  My peeps.
2.  Fancy Feast Grilled Chicken.
3.  My blog and everybody who reads it.
4.  My fur family.
5.  The nip.
6.  Curling up next to peep #1 to watch The Big Bang Theory.
7.  Cool shady spots to lie down in, in the summer.

And I'm gonna pass along this brand spankin' new award to...   drum roll please...
- Katie from Katie Isabella
- Savannah from Savannah's Paw Tracks
- Herman from It's a Wonderpurr Life
- Mario from Mario's Meowsings
- Spitty from Spitty Speaks
- Sammy from onespoiledcat
- Selina from One Eye on the Future

Of course, there were many other blogs to whom I wanted to give this new award.  It was so hard to stop at just seven.  But I figured I had to leave some blogs for the new recipients to pass it along to.  I didn't want a repeat of what happened to me with that lovely Blog on Fire award from Sammy.  And remember...  it was all the peep's fault!  And maybe Houston's.  You know that guy named Houston?  Oh, he's a trouble maker, all right.  People are always telling him he's got a problem.

faerie bowers

Let me tell you a secret.  Shhhh...   I don't want those peeps of mine to hear.

I have secret places in my garden.  Little secret gardens, if you will.  The peeps don't know about them.  These are little spots where only cats will fit.  Cats...  and faeries.

When the peeps walk into the garden, they see this and they see that.  They see the big things.  But I, being a cat and all, see the little stuff, too.  I see the nooks and the crannies.  The little places where a cat like me can curl up for a nap.  Places out of the heat from the midday sun and places out of the sight of the peeps' prying eyes.

One of my favourite little hidey-holes is this tiny spot under a big old multiflora rose bush.  Its branches arch out over the lawn like a big ol' giant protective arm.  I have a little nest under there where I like to curl up.  In the early summer, the honey-like scent of the roses is intoxicating and the sound of the bees buzzing around them lulls me to sleep.  The peeps will often wander around the rose bush but their eyes are on the flowers and they never dream of looking down by their feet.  I'm safely tucked in down there, out of harms way, dreaming of the things about which we cats dream.  Mmmmm....  so lovely.

In the winter, I don't hang out in that spot much 'cause once all the leaves of the rose bush have fallen, it kind of loses its hidey part of the hidey-hole.  But the bush is covered in teeny-tiny rose hips and birds flit about in there, eating 'til they can eat no more.  They're awfully fun to watch and so I do.  Bird TV at its finest!  They could a PBS special on that, I'm sure.  Why stop there?  CNN should stop by and film a documentary!  I should give them a call.  I'll put that on my list of things to do.

My other favourite hidey-hole is under another shrub.  Actually, it's a whole hedge of shrub, I think.  I don't know what kind of plant it is and neither does the peep.  The peep used to say, it's the free hedge but I don't think 'free' is the name of a plant or anything.  You see, these bushes set seed like mad and little baby ones pop up all over the place.  The peep is pretty sure that this is how the previous owners of our house came about planting this hedge.  It was free.

Now the peep calls it the ladybug hedge 'cause ladybugs lay their eggs on it every spring and the peep really loves those ladybugs.  And all that seed it produces?  Well, the chickadees love that.  They hide out in that hedge all winter long, snacking on that seed.  It's pretty much an all-you-can eat buffet for them, I think.

But my favourite part of the hedge is...  you guessed it...  my hidey-hole.  Just like the rose bush, the branches on these shrubs arch out.  There was some paving next to that hedge but it kind of led to nowhere.  I mean really, that's exactly where it led.  I'm not kidding about this.  I am not exaggerating.  It was a straight line, with no stops in between, from here to nowhere.  So the peep has allowed those branches to cover at least half of that paving.  Now, she has a bit of a path and I have a whole lot of hidey-hole.  Oh, it's so great.  No one ever sees me under there, all safely tucked away in my little spot.

Peeps never enter my hidey-holes.  This is primarily because, well, peeps just don't fit in there.  But faeries do.  Uh-huh...  that's right...  I said faeries.

Okay, I've never actually seen one of these faeries but I've heard of them.  I'm pretty sure that one day, one is going to come visit me.  And when they do, they're probably going to want to have a little tea party or something in one my secret hidey-holes.  That's what I'm thinking.  I'm also wondering about something...  Are fairies tasty?  Just wondering, that's all.  Just wondering...

I was peep handled!

The following post is not what I had intended to publish today but something happened yesterday and I just had to write about it.  I knew you'd all want to know.

Well, the last week or so has been pretty chaotic at my house.  You see, the peep was on this committee thing for what is called a flower show.  I don't know if any of you have ever been to one of these flower show thingies before but they're usually pretty nice, I hear.  I wouldn't know for sure 'cause the peep didn't take me.  That's okay though, I think, 'cause it would have involved a ride in the car and you know how I feel about those.

So anyway, the peep has been working on organising this show with three other people.  Sure, there were other really nice peeps helping them with stuff but there were only four of them actually on the committee - making sure everything ran smoothly and taking responsibility if stuff went wrong - so the peep had a lot resting on her shoulders, if you know what I mean.  I'm so glad I wasn't on that committee 'cause I still haven't figured out if I, as a cat, even have shoulders...  never mind having all that stuff weighing 'em down.

And the peep wasn't just organising stuff.  She entered things too.  That meant more chaos for me.  All week long she's been picking stuff and getting containers and things ready for her arrangements.  She says she made nine of these supposed 'works of art' but I couldn't say for sure as I never saw any of them.  Could you believe it?

And to make matters worse, she made these arrangements in my office where I have my computer where I write my blog and I couldn't get in there all day Thursday as she was busy as a bee sticking flowers here and sticking 'em there and sticking 'em just about everywhere!  She says it was 'cause she was using lilies and she didn't want me to get sick from getting their pollen on my beautiful fur coat 'cause we all know that lilies can be deadly to us cats if we ingest any part of them, right?  I think she just didn't want me seeing her stuff in case it turned out that I might be able to make a better one or something.  I'm pretty sure that was it.  I'm pretty sure that was the reason for my being locked out of my office for an entire day.  Thank goodness it wasn't a posting day 'cause then I would really have had to put down my paw.  Put in down right in the middle of one of those arrangements and given it a right good smoosh, I think.


Turns out, the peep did okay at the show.  Not great, but okay.  The judge was really tough, she said.  But she did win Best Arrangement and Best in Show.  She won it with her Holiday Composition but again, there's no proof.  Oh yeah, there's a big ol' frilly ribbon she brought home but she could have picked that up anywhere.  I would have liked to have seen some pictures as proof.  But do you know what?  Not a picture in sight.  At least not of the winning one.  She took some pictures of some others but not one of the big winner.   Very suspicious, I think.  Yes, very suspicious indeed...

So, peep #1 was busy keeping me out of my office all day Thursday.  Then, she went to the show hall that night to take in her entries and accept some from a few other people.  Then, she had to be there bright and early Friday morning to accept more entries.  And then, the show took the rest of the day and I didn't get to see my peep at all until Friday night.  Boy-oh-boy that was a long time.  I was almost even beginning to miss her.  Could you believe it?

Then yesterday morning, it happened.  The peep must have realised that I hadn't had a proper cuddle in at least a couple of days and all of a sudden, she spotted me, scooped me up in her arms and literally covered me all over in kisses.  She kissed the top of my head, the back of my head and I think she even got me on my side.  Thank goodness it was first thing in the morning and she had yet to put on her lipstick.  That stuff stains my fur coat, you know.  And she held me and she cuddled me and she apologised for having been so busy and neglecting her loving-up-of-me duties.  I have to tell you...  I was well and truly peep handled.  Yes...  that's definitely what happened to me, yesterday.  I was peep handled!  Peep handled by the peep!  Ooohhh... the indignity of it all.

make up your minds already!

So I'm sitting in my kitchen, minding my own business - I believe I was givin' the ol' tail a good wash down from top to bottom - when I hear peep #2 complaining.  I wasn't overly thrilled about this.  The complaining part, I mean.  You know, when a cat is in the middle of a bath, he or she doesn't like to be disturbed with the negativity of complaining peeps.  So I looked up from my laundry duties and gave the peep a cold, hard stare.  The kind of stare a complaining peep deserves.  You know what I mean?  And I said to myself, "What is it this time?"  

Peep #2 was complaining that the tea in the teapot had become cold because someone had forgotten to put the tea cosy on it.  Well, I'm not taking the blame for this one.  I can tell you right here and now that that someone was peep #2!  I don't make tea.  Personally, I don't like the stuff.  So why would I make it?  I might brew up a pot of the ol' nip tea but that's not the kind of tea the peep was talking about.  Besides, I had been busy with my laundry duties, remember?  Oh, and I think the first peep had an alibi of some sort, too.  I believe I had sent her out into my garden earlier that morning to do a little weeding.  And when I say little, I really do mean little 'cause she's a super rotten weeder.  She gets distracted so very easily, I think.  Seriously, I gotta get myself some new peeps.

So I was still staring at peep #2, wondering why anyone would think that I would possibly care about a pot of cold tea, when I realised something important.  My peeps can't make up their minds.  They don't seem to be capable of it.  I'm not sure if it's just my peeps or all peeps in general but there does seem to be a definite lack of mind-making-up ability present in the species.  Such an indecisive species, it is.  I should do a paper on it or something.  Bet I could earn one of those PhD thingies with that.  Certainly worth investigating, I think.

Anywho....   back to the complaining peep.  "It's cold...  have to make more...  blah, blah, blah, blah, blah..."  At some point, one just has to tune it all out, you know. So I did.

My mind wandered back to the indecisive nature of the species of the peeps.  You see...  here was peep #2 complaining - another characteristic of the species but that's another topic for another day - that the tea was cold.  But my peep #1 has been making cold tea all summer.  She likes it that way.  She makes big ol' huge pitchers of the stuff.  She even went out and bought a new pitcher to hold the tea and keeps that pitcher in the refrigerator.  The refrigerator which happens to be...  uhhhh....  cold?  Yeah, I think so.  And yet, it apparently still isn't cold enough 'cause before she drinks it, she adds ice.  And ice, in case you didn't know, is super duper cold.  It's as cold as cold gets, I think.

So here's my point.  On the one paw, I've got a peep saying the tea is too cold.  On the other paw, I've got another peep saying it's not cold enough.  Make up your minds already!  Oh my mouses!  What is a cat to do with those peeps?

it was already dead... honest!

It wasn't me!  I don't know where it came from!!  I don't know how it got here!!!  And besides...  it was already dead.  Honest!

Okay...  I kind of do know where it came from.  It came from where all mice come...  outside in the garden.  I mean, where else would it come from?  I'm not running some kind of mouse factory in the basement.  I didn't order it on-line.  And you peeps know darned well how I hate riding in the car so I sure as mouses didn't drive over to the mall and buy the mouse.  Clearly, the mouse came from the great outdoors.

And I guess I kind of do know how the mouse came to be inside our house, lying there in the middle of the kitchen floor.  Obviously, someone brought it inside.  No self respecting mouse has ever entered my house voluntarily.  I mean, I live with eleven other cats.  Plus, nosey neighbour cat visits on almost a daily basis.  You have to admit, he's a suspicious looking character if ever there was one.  And then there's the cat who came back.  Remember Carson?  So, that means I am only one for fourteen suspects.  And none of us are talking!

Wait a minute!  I'm one of sixteen suspects because there are a couple of peeps living in my house, as well.  Either one of them might have caught that mouse and brought it inside.  It would be just like a peep to do something like that and then blame one of us cats.  Just like a peep, indeed.  In fact, typical peep!  True to form, typical peep.  Mouses I've gotta get myself some new peeps, I think.

Peep #1...  when you came into the kitchen the other morning and saw me sniffing that ol' dead mouse lying there on the floor, all you saw me doing was sniffing.  You absolutely did not see me catching the mouse, killing the mouse, playing with the mouse or carrying the mouse around in my mouth.  You didn't see any of that stuff 'cause I didn't do any of that stuff.  It's all what they call circumstantial evidence.  Don't you pay attention to the television when Law & Order is on?  You need more than just the circumstantial kind of evidence, I think.  You need what they call the smoking gun.  Well, old peep of mine...  you don't have that smoking gun.  No smoke rising from my claws.  No sirree...  not a trace of smoke coming from my claws.  Probably...  most likely...  'CAUSE I DIDN'T DO IT!

And let me tell you something else.  When I came across the mouse that morning, lying there in the middle of the kitchen floor, it was already dead.  Didn't I mention that before?  Yes, I believe I did.  I didn't kill the mouse.  Someone else killed the mouse.  IT WASN'T ME!  HONEST!!!

And peep #1 o' mine...  had you really wanted to find the guilty culprit, you should have looked for the evidence right there and then.  I didn't see you doing any DNA tests on that mouse.  The mouse was probably covered in the saliva of the killer.  Did you check for saliva?  No, of course not.  Let's face it, Jessica Fletcher you are not!

There could have been cat hair on that mouse and that cat hair might have led you to the killer.  But I can tell you this...  if there were any cat hairs, they weren't sterling silver tabby ones like mine.   'Cause when I came across the mouse, IT WAS ALREADY DEAD!  Didn't I mention that before?

For all I know, there might have been a long, 'medium golden brown' hair wrapped around that dead mouse.  That is the name of the colour on the box of stuff you use to cover up all that grey, right?  I see no reason - no reason at all - why you, peep #1, should be eliminated from the list of suspects.

Whoever did it, isn't talking.  That part is clear.  But I do know this.  It wasn't me and...  it was already dead!  HONEST!!!

whoa, nellie!

The peep grows trees for us.  As we're all allowed outside - providing that we stay in our own yard where it's safe, of course - having some trees in the garden for climbing is a pretty good thing.

Some of the trees were here before the peeps moved in.  Others the peep planted herself.  Some of them are just babies 'cause she's still starting trees every year.  Others are older than me and I'm nine so that's pretty old in cat years but maybe not so old in tree years.  Tree years are more complicated, I think.  Yeah, way more complicated.

There's this one tree in the middle of my front yard that's really, really big.  It's taller than the house by far.  Way taller than the peep, of course.  But the peep grew that tree from a teeny-tiny seed many, many years ago.  She says she planted that seed the first summer they lived in this house which was before I was born.  It was in the year 2000 which is like, oh...  eons and eons ago, I think.  Long before my time.

Well, this practically ancient tree was causing a bit of an uproar at my house 'cause the peep was all upset that it had never bloomed.  Personally, I didn't really care 'cause trees are for climbing not blooming but you know peeps.  She says she grew it specifically for the blooms which aren't very showy but are highly fragrant and magnets for the bees.  I thought I might be able to help her out on the flowery sniffing stuff but I wasn't too sure about turning it into a magnet.  I mean, magnets are made of metal, right?  Well, I don't think the peep realises it but...  trees are made out of wood.  That's a peep for ya!  And I'm beginning to wonder...  if she doesn't know the difference between metal and wood...  well...  perhaps all hope is lost, huh?

But back to the tree and this flowering business.  The tree is called a Tilia.  That's it's official botanical name.  I know 'cause I looked it up.  Most of the time though, the peeps just call it a linden 'cause that's its nickname.  I have a nickname, too.  Sometimes I get called Nissy or Nissy-poo even though my real and proper name is Nerissa.  My best friend Herman calls me Niss and I really like that one.

All these nicknames got me thinking.  What if the Tilia tree has more than one nickname, just like me?  So, I checked it out.  Actually, I just asked the peep.  She said that yes, sometimes people call these trees lime trees.  I said, "Limes?  Like in citrus?"  The peep reassured me that no, they were not any kind of citrus tree and that I needn't worry.  You see, we cats hate the citrus.  But peep #1 said that her grandmother from Scotland used to call linden trees, lime trees.

Hmmm...  this got my mind working at top speed.  Lime...  like chalk...  like chalky soils...  like sweet soils...  like what we don't have in our garden.  Could it be that some peeps call lindens lime trees 'cause they grow on chalky soils?  Hmmm...

So I said to the peep, "Why don't you just lime that sucker?" although it's not actually a sucker.  I believe I mentioned it was a seedling.  Another topic for another post, I think.

So last fall, the peep bought a big ol' bag of lime for the tree.  She gave that one tree the whole bag.  Actually, she went a little crazy with the lime and I had to say to her, "Whoa, Nellie!"  Not that the peep's name is Nelly or anything but that is what one says in situations like these, I think.  Bottom line is, the tree got well and truly limed.

Well folks, just guess what we have this year?  Flowers!  Lots and lots of flowers!  I wouldn't say the tree is covered completely in flowers but there are lots of them.  And when one goes from none to lots in one year...  well...  that's saying something, I think.  Oh, what a little gardening supervisor I am.  Purrs

ruling nitpickers

Rules are rules, right?  Must always be followed?  Well...  no...  I don't really think so.  I mean, it's pretty easy to say that they should but just think about it for a moment.

Rules are made for reasons...  usually.  Now, I know that some people just make rules for the sake of making rules but those are the stupid people.  There's no need to make a rule unless there's a reason for the rule.  Like...  I'm not supposed to jump up onto the stove 'cause if I did, and it was on, I could get hurt.  That's a good rule 'cause it protects me.  There's a reason for that rule.  But if I jump up on the counter I'm not gonna get hurt.  So a rule about not jumping up onto the counter would be a stupid rule 'cause there's no reason for it.  So that one doesn't need to be followed, I think.  Get my drift?  I think you probably do.

Organisations usually have rules, too.  Those rules are put in place to protect the organisation...  or rather, the peeps who belong to that organisation.  Usually, the group or club or whatever you want to call it has a purpose.  So, the rules protect the peeps who fulfil the purpose.  So...  if there's some sort of event that the group is gonna hold, the peeps doing all the work to make that event be successful for the rest of the group...  well...  they're the peeps needing the protection.  The rules are supposed to protect those peeps.  We're still on the same page, right?

But what do you do if the peeps trying to make the event successful are not protected but rather, find themselves needing protection from those very same rules?  What do you do then?  Who do you call?  Ghost Busters?  Nah...  if you happen to be a peep living in my neck of the woods, you can call me!

So that brings me to the point of this post.  My peep has a problem and that problem is called...  well,  I won't name names but...  well...  I don't really need to name any names 'cause I think the problem has been solved.  I fixed it for her.

The peep told me all about her problem and I gave her a little cuddle to make her feel better.   Then I let her tickle me behind my ears so that she'd feel even more better.  Then, I let her give me a tummy rub so that she'd feel even better than better.  Finally, I gave the peep the best advice I could give.  I told her to take a nap.  And she did!

When she woke up, I enlightened her a little more on the subject.  This is what I told her...  The rules aren't really the problem.  The problem is the people enforcing those rules and the reasons why they do it.  You see, sometimes people wanna enforce rules just 'cause they wanna enforce rules.  Not 'cause the rules are good or 'cause the rules make things better or run more smoothly but just 'cause enforcing rules makes them feel better.  Gives them a little power trip of sorts.  They get high on this power trip.  These are people who should indulge in a little of the nip, I think.  At least then, they wouldn't be bothering my peep.

Let me just say this.  If enforcing a rule screws everyone else up, it's not a good rule!  If an organisation of some sort wants a job done but has a rule that makes it next to impossible to get that job done well...  well then...  I think something needs to be done about that rule.  Don't you?  You've gotta take that rule book and just rip that page out.  It's the only sensible thing to do, I think.  Instead of delighting in the enforcement of the rule, why don't we all work together to find a way to work around the rule to make things work?  That's what we cats would do...  'cause we're cats...  and as cats, we're smart.  So much smarter than peeps!

You're probably all wondering how I fixed this little conundrum for the peep.  Well, I just told her the truth.  There are more important things in life than any stupid ol' organisation.  For instance, there is me.   I need petting and feeding and cuddling and the provision of snacking materials and tummy rubs and cream and scratches behind the ears and the refreshing of water dishes and...  and my list goes on and on and on.  These are all far more important than anything any old organisation can envision.

So, if the peep wants to do something useful with her life, a little more attention directed my way will go a long way to further that purpose.  I'm thinking that next year, she just should not bother with that ol' organisation.  Let the ruling nitpickers do a little of the work for once.  No, let them do it all!  The peep can stay home with me and do something useful for once.  I'll make her a list.  That will help her, I think.  See?  I fixed things.  Yes, I fixed things all up.  Did you ever doubt that I would?

we've got hummers!

That's right...  the hummers have arrived!  Oh I'm so excited.

For those of you who aren't cats or gardeners, hummers are what I call, hummingbirds.  They're one of my favourite kinds of birds, too.  I don't chase 'em or catch 'em or anything naughty like that.  They're just fun to watch.  Really, really fun.

I would have included a picture of a hummer in my post today but let's face it...  that would require the peep to be a fairly decent photographer and, I'm afraid, that she isn't.  I mean, she can barely get me to cooperate with her picture taking endeavours and I'm a well behaved cooperative cat so...  how on earth is she gonna get a picture of a hummer?  It's a question that must be asked although I've already hinted at the answer...  she isn't!

The reason hummers are such fun to watch is that they can zip here and zip there and zip just about everywhere.  I live kind of near an air force base and sometimes, there are jet planes that fly overhead.  The fighter kind of jets you see on the television and movies.  Those fighter jets are a lot like hummers, I think.  They can zip and zap all sorts of places as well.  The biggest difference I can tell is that the planes are way up in the sky and never zip around in my garden.  The peep says this is a good thing but I wouldn't mind getting a closer look at one of those mechanical hummers.  Maybe someday I'll get the peep to take me over to that air force base to check 'em out.  On the other hand, that would likely involve a car ride and I am not a fan of car rides so...  scratch that idea.  I'll just watch my non-mechanical hummers.  They zip around in my garden all the time.  No car ride necessary.

As far as I can tell, when a hummer finds food, he or she stops imitating a fighter jet and turns into a helicopter mimic.  He hovers there by the flowers and eats and eats and eats 'til he can eat no more, I think.  He just gobbles up all that sweet nectar from his favourite flowers and whatnot.  On the other hand, if the hummers hover, maybe they're mimicking UFOs and not helicopters.  Hmmm...  I'll have a think and get back to you on that one.

I should tell you that, in order to have hummingbirds visit your garden, you have to grow something they like.  Now, the peep is not too great with the picture taking - I believe I already mentioned that - but, I have to admit, she does grow one of my hummer friends' favourite flowers...  HONEYSUCKLE!  And the honeysuckles are in full bloom right now so my hummers are having an all-you-can-eat buffet...  whatever that is.

In my garden, the peep grows two kinds of honeysuckles for my hummers and me.  I'm including a picture of one but for some reason, the peep didn't take a picture of the other.  Don't know why.  Oh, yes I do...  I believe I told you 'bout her incompetence with the camera?  MOUSES!  I have got to do something 'bout that peep!  Anywho...  the picture she did take for me is kind of pretty, I think.  What you probably can't see in the picture is that they smell absolutely delicious.  Peep says they smell like orange blossoms but I'm not sure if I believe her or not.  I know what an orange smells like and it's not anything like that.  I would know 'cause I'm a cat and cats don't like oranges but I quite enjoy the smell of the honeysuckle.  So does my brother Seville, as you can probably tell from the pictures.

One other thing 'bout hummers is that, if you're not careful, they'll zing ya!  They never zing me 'cause I'm their friend and all but I've seem 'em zing the peep.  Sometimes, they'll be zipping around the garden so fast they can't keep track of where they're going or something - I guess - and they practically dive bomb the peep.  That's one of the funniest sights to see.  Afterwards, the peep does a little dance or something.  At least I think she's dancing.  It involves some ducking and spinning and her arms flailing around in the air and whatnot.  I've seen other peeps dance on the television and I have to say, she doesn't really dance like they do but...  well...  I just don't know how else to describe it.  Peeps do such odd things, you know.  Hard to keep track, quite honestly.  I'm sure you all know what I mean.


So anywho...  if you wanna have some fun in your garden, plant some honeysuckle and invite the hummers over for a meal or two.  They'll entertain you for hours on end.  And when you're done watching the hummers, you can watch your peeps do their little hummer-zinging dance.  You'll trip over your tail from laughing so hard watching that one.  I can promise you that!

cats rule!

Yeah, I'm a week late with this post.  Sorry 'bout that.

Some of you - okay, most of you, 'cause like I said, I'm a week late with this post - may already know that June 24th was World Cat Domination Day.  We cats are so very fortunate that Sparkle from the world famous blog, Sparkle the Designer Cat was given this event as his tenth birthday present.  What a great gift, huh?  I mean, let's face it...  we all know that cats are taking over the world but...  well...  this just makes it all official.

Closer to home, I've been taking over some stuff myself.  For instance, several months ago, I took over the peep's twitter account.  She started it up for herself last November but within a couple of weeks, it was my account...  all mine.  And what an improvement my taking over the account made.  She had, like, thirty followers or something like that.  I have well over twelve hundred...  almost thirteen!  People like cats.  No, people love cats.  Once cats and their peeps out there knew the account belonged to a cat, the followers appeared.  How great is that?  I'll answer that question.  Super great, I think.

But it doesn't end there.  The other morning, the peep went to check on her e-mail and there were over one hundred messages.  I guess she was thinking to herself that she had become oh-so-popular overnight.  Well think again peep #1.  Almost every one of those e-mails was for me.  That's right...  me!  You see, between my twitter account, my facebook page and my blog, I'm one pretty popular cat.  It's only a matter of time, I think, before that e-mail address is officially mine, too.  Only a matter of time...

Here in Canada, today is a special holiday.  It's Canada Day!  Yeah, my country - the one in which I was born - is having a birthday.  Not much of one though, from what I can see.  I woke up this morning expecting all sorts of wonderful birthday celebrations for such a wonderful day celebrating such a wonderful country but there wasn't a catnip plant in sight.  Can you imagine that?  No nip on a birthday?  Who's running this shindig anyway?  Obviously, it's not a cat.  If it were, there would be cat treats and birthday cake made of Fancy Feast pate and cream and nip.  Oh, there would be lots and lots of nip.  There would be great fields of the stuff.  A sea of nip.  Oh, what a wonderful sight that would be to behold.  Of course, we cats might all be in a state of perpetual highness from all the nip but that's a chance I'm willing to take.

I'm thinking that we cats need to start our domination of the world here in Canada.  We need to take over Ottawa, I think.  I'm sure we could do better.  Scratch that...  I'm positive we could do better.  First thing to do is pass a law that people grow more of the nip.  Yes, we'll call it the Nepeta cataria law.  Every garden in the country should be required to grow at least one patch of the stuff.  As for farmers' fields?  Well, let's convert one percent of all fields into nip growing ones.  One percent isn't a lot.  I think a law like this would be more than fair.  And, of course, the law must provide for equal access of the nip to all cats.  Hey, I'm even willing to throw in some access to dogs and bunnies if they're interested.  Don't think they are but laws should be fair to everybody, you know.

So, that's my plan.  We cats should start dominating the world right here in Canada.  Sparkle, my friend, thanks so much for getting the ball rolling on this one.  By Canada Day next year, there will be fields of nip growing in this great country.  Nip for all.  Oh, what a happy Canada Day that would be.