It's Caturday Night!

Another Caturday Night....

... and it's me and Shelby.... just us girls!

Happy Caturday!!

Perhaps I'd better cut back on the caffeine!!

Caturday Hunger Games

Happy Caturday from Shelby and Nog!

Happy Caturday!

Happy Caturday!  Anyone going out tonight?!  Don't go out half-dry!


(Thanks, Mr. A, for turning me on to these! Follow the YouTube link for more cat translations!)

Happy Caturday!

Another Caturday at "the Sweatshop" for Princess Shelby!

Another Caturday Night....

.. and it's just me and Shelby!  At least her box is clean!

Happy Caturday- and Happy Holidays!!

Since Miss Ginger knows what you will all be getting her for Christmas, she thought she would show you how to wrap it properly!!

It's Caturday Here as Well!

Since David Dust and Behr Mark have sorta started a "Caturday" theme, Miss Ginger thought this would be a good time to share this little story.

Yasee, Boy Ginger is a bit of a cat whisperer. Not quite as bad as depicted on this obviously gay man's Prius, as Boy G only has 3. But he ALMOST had 4 this week. Almost!

This week, while working in Dallas, Boy G met the sweetest little cat at the Courtyard by Marriott (luxurious, I know!!) When we got home from work Thursday night he came right up to us, meowing and mewing and skinny as could be! Another lady was there and I said "is that your cat?" and she said that it wasn't, but it looked hungry and she was trying to find something to feed it but couldn't. So, Boy G hopped back into the car and head up the expressway to Tom Thumb to pick up a couple of cans of food.

When he first got back, he got a good look at the cat in the headlights and realized that he was a beautiful white color, with tips of tan that made him a beautiful ivory color. Since to this day he's still not sure of the gender of the kitten, he decided "Ivory" would be a perfect name because it could go either way.

When Boy G opened the first can, Ivory came right to him, but seemed to want love and snuggles more than food. He would come right to Boy G's hand, sniff, rub his cheek, circle round, rub on Boy G's shoe, etc... all the flirting a cat does when it wants human attention. As Boy G sat on the curb, Ivory crawled right up into his lap, and even let Boy G hold and carry him! This led Boy G to believe that cat had been abandoned, because a feral born cat would probably not be so friendly.

Ivory was quite a talker, which may be what led to his cruel dismissal. With his sort of seal-point coat and all that vocabulary, Miss G assumes he is part Persian or Siamese, both notorious talkers! He also had clear blue eyes, like a bottle of Windex... another sign of his Asian persuasion!

Anyho, Boy G sat with Ivory until he finally ate, and then petted him a bit more before heading back to his room for the night. He sent several texts trying to find a home for Ivory to no avail. The next day, Ivory was once again skittering around the parking lot of the hotel, and came right up to Boy G as he opened up the second can of food before he headed off to work, and then the airport.

At work, he asked around a bit more to find out if anyone needed an ADORABLE pet, but alas, no takers. Boy G toyed briefly with the idea of trying to bring him to Houston, but there is no way he would ever place an animal in a cargo hold of an airplane, and his mewing from a carrier under the seat would have made Boy G the most unpopular co-passenger in airline history. Keeping the car and driving home with Ivory was quickly dismissed, since Boy G can only drive for about an hour or so without falling asleep. At that rate the drive from Dallas would have taken forever!!!

So, Ivory is left to fend for himself at the Courtyard Marriott on North Central Expressway in Big D. If there are any Dallas GingerSnaps out there who could help find Ivory a good home, I know the GingerNation would be eternally grateful! As Okrah often says: "pay it forward!!!"

It's Usually Full of Cougars....

When the news today reported that a "bobcat" had been spotted in a dowtown parking garage, Miss Ginger figured "someone's brown kitty musta got out! Lucky mine's too lazy to walk downtown and doesn't have enough money for the bus!"

As it turns out, it was a real bobcat, like this one! I know it looks all cuddly and cute, but that's 30 pounds of hungry, wild cat that's not used to being around people! Apparently, they are native to the outlying areas around here, and it is suspected that he wandered in along the bayous and found a cozy spot to spend the night! They had to tranquelize it to safely remove him, and he has since been relocated to a state park nearby.

Now, Miss Ginger loves her some kitties... but she's pretty sure she'd soil her bloomers if she ever encountered one of these things heading to her car on the way home from work!!

Sewing With Miss Ginger!

Those of you who have followed TFBOMGG for a while know she is quite an accomplished seamstress, and makes most of her own gowns and tents! Each year, there's one special outfit to be made for her Mardi Gras ball, and now's the season! Sewing is a skill she picked up gradually from Momma Ginger, and Miss G still gets lots of help from Momma G when she sews today!
Some of you who have lost important people may know what Miss G's talking about- they are with you always and "talk" to you all the time! Momma G talks to me most when I am cooking, sewing, or contemplating an illegal left turn! "Don't even think about it! If it were safe to turn left they wouldn't have made it illegal!"

When Miss Ginger takes on a sewing project, Momma G is with her every step of the way!

"That lame' is going to be a bugger to sew! How about a nice Ultrasuede® instead?"
"You'd better pin that! If you try to sew it freehand, you're gonna have a mess on your hands!"
"Make sure you press that flat before you go on or you're gonna have a lump you'll never get rid of!"
"Just cut and sew it and get all the seams in place. I'll put the hems and zipper in while you're at school!"

Okay, she doesn't so much say that last one anymore, but damn, I wish she would! Miss Ginger HATES putting in zippers!

So, Momma G watches over Miss G's sewing table with a mentor's eye, and pops thoughts into my head constantly as I work through project after project. She may not be here to help physically, but she helps in her own heavenly way!

And, here on Earth, I have 2 other helpers to keep me in stitches, as well!

If you've ever tried to sew from a pattern, you know that they are notoriously confusing!!!

"With RIGHT sides together, pin coat upper front along welt line, matching small dots, as shown, fig. 1a. Baste, stitch, and trim within 1/4 inch."

WTF?? Miss Ginger has NO patience with "patternspeak".
However, apparently "patternspeak" and kittehspeak" are quite similar, and Jackson picked up on it quite quickly. He absolutely LOVES patterns, and "reads" them endlessly whenever they are avaialable. He's teaching this art to his sister Shelby, as well!

It comes in quite handy, really! Jackson is great a keeping my cutting line, and he points it out and stays focused until I get all the pieces cut!

Shelby, on the other hand, has the attention span of a gnat, and really can't be bothered to carry the torch of the family art forward!

Being the nature lover that she is, she must rather while away the day making love to her "shrub"!

What was the last craft project you attempted, and how did it turn out? Pics?

It's Done...Finally!

Okay, decking the halls was a 2 day project! Oye, vey, glad to be done! It was a hassle but totally worth the kafuffle! And, it's worth the time since it can stay up until the end of February! Yasee, clever Miss Ginger chose a Mardi Gras theme for her tree this year! So, the tree can stay up, the garland on the mantel can switch from pine to magnolia, and voila! Happy Mardi Gras! She is SUCH a clever gurl and is very proud of herself right now!

The tree itself a a sight to behold! It features the Frog Princess and Frog Princess as King and Queen of their own Froggi Gras Krewe!

And on the mantel, the Frog King is being entertained by a line of Flying Monkey Chorus Boys! Hey, Christmas is all about fantasy, so it works! And it's all embellished with lots of peackock plumes and glitter, glitter, glitter! Glitter fruit, glitter morning glories ( Miss G's favorite flower, BTW!) and glitter balls!

Miss Shelby is pretty proud of herself, too! Being the outdoorsey gurl that she is (?!) she just LOVES trees and branches! Of course, she thinks trees and branches come out of the attic in green Rubbermaid® totes, so her viewpoint is a tad skewed! Still, as soon as the boxes came down (maybe she's on to something?!) she pulled a loose branch of garland out and made it her own! God love her, she has not let that thing out of her sight all day! She sleeps on it, chews on it, and plays with it! If I had known a piece of green plastic tinsel could make a cat so happy I would have thrown her bone a long time ago! Jackson, of course, is WAAAAAAY too cool to be caught playing with a fake tree! Besides, he's busy hunting empty toilet paper rolls, his favorite prey!

Did I mention how much the kitties and I love the holidays?!

Shhhhh- Don't Tell Jack and Shelby....

but Daddy has a new friend in Baton Rouge!

Tonight when Boy G checked into the Baton Rouge Marriott, he was met at the door by this precious creature, Miss Mary Ott! The bellmen said "he won't come... he's scared of everybody!" but SHE came right up to Boy G! All it takes it's the correct gender recognition!

After dinner, I went down and played with Mary for a long time! She snuggled and purred, and we had hours of cheek rubs and ear scratches! She even allowed a couple of quick belly rubs, but there were no "carry ups". At least not on the first date!

"Sylvester" and "Tweetie"

A friend sent Miss G these pics- presumably from the interwebz. Disclaimer: We don't know the owner of these animals!



We start off with "Tweetie" so busy twittering that he doesn't see the puddy tat! This can't be good news

This gives "Sylvester" the opportunity to sneak up on his unsuspecting prey!

He's got him in a headlock...

but the clever little bird escapes. He stronger than he looks! As Sylvester prepares his next attact, Tweetie asks "can't we resolve this conflict without violence?"

At first Sylvester is pensive.... for years his "people" have settled conflict with violence!

!

But with a little strong-armed diplomacy, Tweetie states his case for a peaceful resolution

And once they realize that one man's parasite is another man's feast, they create an alliance for life!

"Tweetie for President... of the whole fucking world!"

Spoiled Rotten!

Nobody loves this FABULOUS weather we are having in Texas more than Miss Shelby Marie! There are sunbeams to be lounged in all over the house, and in the mornings her Daddy evern lights her fireplace for her! She's a very lucky gurl!

Jack in the Box!

If only contentment and security were so simple for the rest of us.....!

CATFIGHT!

Well almost, anyway!

Tonight was Miss Ginger's night to host the ball committee and the members presenting costume ideas, and we had pretty much finished. The members had left, and the Lieutenants and co-captains were sharing notes, cocktails, and munchies when there came a howl from the backyard. "Damn Bentley!", thought Miss G as she went out to run off the lesbian neighbor cat that often comes to torment Nog.

When she went outside it wasn't Bentley, but a big, brown cat that looked just like...

"JACKSON!"- "What the hell are you doing out here?"
It seems Mr. Curious Indoor Kitty managed to slip by one of the members and spent some time exploring the backyard- until he ran into Mr. Nog!!

Now, Mr. Nog is a sweetheart, and loves his belly rubs as much as the next kitty- but, as an outdoor kitty, he's got street cred- he'll CUT a bitch! I know this from the hanks of yellow fur that I have found he has ripped out of Bentley from time to time!

So there they are , faced off, eye to eye, with Jackson puffed up the size of a mountain lion! Momma Ginger screams "Nog, leave him alone!", and, as Nog breaks eye contact, Jackson high tails it for the backdoor and the safety of his indoor "prison". Once he got in, it was clear he was terrified! He's much better now, but Miss Ginger hopes the little shit learned his lesson: you ain't got it so bad in this palatial home you call "prison"!

What a Whirl!

Things have been a whirl of activity at Chez Ginger this weekend. Saturday morning was dreary, cold, and windy, so Miss G sent the Boy out to do "truck errands" while she stayed home and rested. Cat food, kitty litter, sodas, beer, laundry- all the stuff that's too big to fit in Miss G's car anyway.

By the time the errands were done and the naps were finished, the clouds had blown away and we were left with a beautiful, sunny day. Miss G opened all the windows to air out the house and went into an OCD frenzy of cleaning, organizing, and de-cluttering. She started with the pantry, which led to the freezer. It took most of the afternoon to finish that up, so once that was done she made her list for the garden center so she could start out there this morning.

The sprinkler that was damaged by last week's drunk driver had to be replaced, but since the sprinkler system hasn't worked in about 8 months, that had to be fixed first. Something was wrong with the automatic programming feature, so clever Miss G just erased the whole thing and then reprogrammed in manually. Fingers crossed that the yard will be damp when Miss G awakens!

Once the sprinkler was in place, she planted a few flowers in the torn up section of the bed and redid a planter that has been sitting empty on the fence since last summer.

Now she's ready to reward herself with an adult bev or 2 and relax with the kitties in front of the TV!

Rambling Rants and Randomness

It's been a week now since Miss Ginger got back from NOLA, and as good at is feels to be home, things are a little strange and not as she expected them to be. Dontcha hate when that happens?
First, the kitties are being weird. Normally, they interact with each other a great deal, playing, fighting, grooming, or just snuggling and sleeping together. Since Miss G has come home, it's like each kitty doesn't even know the other exits, even though they are in the same room together. And instead of both sleeping with me like normal, they won't come into the bedroom at the same time. Jackson will wait by the door until Shelby gets up to go to the litter box, and then he will come in. After she finishes her business and comes back, she realizes Jackson is in the room and won't come in. It's like they had some huge fight while I was gone and now they're not speaking! Their both being sweet with me but I want my whole kitty family back together!
Miss Ginger's back went out after she got home, which is not surprising, so instead of getting all the things done that need to get done, we're laying on ice packs and hobbling around like a letter "C". Miss Ginger often gets muscle spasms when she goes from periods of being on her feet a lot to periods of sitting or sleeping a lot. Usually they work themselves out with muscle relaxers and mobic, but this has been almost a week. Looks like it will be back to the physical therapist for Miss G. Not an altogther unpleasant experience, but time and schedule consuming, and expensive.

Str8upwithatwist blogged about All Saints Day, and started Miss G to wondering if there is a patron saint of Drag Queens? Does anybody know? Miss G also needs to pray to St. Anthony, because since she got back she can't find her ipod or her headphones. He always helps her find her lost earrings so I know he can help with consumer electronics as well!

Miss G skipped breakfast bunch this morning because her back hurt and she wasn't feeling sociable. It also gave her a chance to enjoy one of the good things that came out of her past relationship, fried boudin for breakfast. She never ate boudin till exBF came along, but he fried some up for breakfast one morning and Miss G was instantly hooked. She only got a couple of links left in the freezer, so she may have to make a road trip to the Mother State to get some more. Does anybody know where one can buy boudin in Texas?

The time changes always throws Miss G's schedule into a tail-spin, but at least she early voted on Friday so she doesn't have to worry about getting up early Tuesday to go by the polls on her way to work. I guess we'll all be glued to the TV Tuesday night- might be a fun night to go out to the bars to watch the returns, asuming things go our way. Otherwise, not so fun. In either case, cocktails will be appropriate!