Fashion Friday and Mike Goes Home

Here are the two cowboy hats that I bought at the Tucson Rodeo Parade. And the sombrero that Karl gave me as a present and souvenir from Tucson!
And yes - if this Fashion Friday looks familiar - it is dedicated to Anastasia. I wish I would have known her!

And this is one more "ambiance" picture from my visit to Southern Arizona, the "Wild West".
Karl said if I come again we will visit Tombstone (the fight at the O.K. Corral!) and Nogales, Mexico and do some wine tasting in Sonoita....
(this was taken a few days ago)

And then it was time to teleport home. The Cat Realm has a really sophisticated transporter room!!!

Bye bye Mrs. OZ and Karl and Emil and Brody and Dicky! I will miss you! But I am also glad to see Gretchen and her Mom! And I have a feeling I will be traveling again real soon.....

Mike is Still Here!

If you remember - last week we were able to stop by the Tucson Rodeo Parade but I never got around to posting pictures...

Just in case I took my notebook so I could write down some facts about the parade - but then I decided to just give you a link and you can read up things there....

I did manage to sneak into the parade though! If you look closely you can see me riding behind Congress woman Gabrielle Giffords!

We decided to not go and actually see any of the Rodeo performances but we stopped at a roadside stand that sold hats.

On the way back we drove up A-Mountain to get a good view of Tucson:

And then we headed home where Mrs. OZ was already waiting for us...

I was exhausted! I just wanted to sleep! So I hopped into bed with Emil and Brody - and Emil gave me his glasses to wear because he thought I look really funny in them.
P.S. I also conducted my interview with The Cat Realm yesterday.
You can read it here.

If you haven't voted for your favorites at the Red Carpet Buzz,
hurry up and vote! Voting will be open until
Thursday, February 28, 9 pm Mountain Standard Time.

I got an aCATemy Award!!!

The awesome Skeezix has given me an aCATemy Award!!!!
In case you don't know - that is the Oscar for cats - and dogs and any other animals - only A LOT MORE prestigious of course. This is what Skeezix said:

Hi, Karl!
Were yoo as upset as I was last night win I watched the Academy Awards and discuverd that not only did yoo not win an award for yer werk in CCSI, BUT YOO WERN'T EVEN NOMMYNATED??!!
I was agast. So, here is an aCATemy Award to aknolidge yer owtstanding award-winning contribyooshun to CCSI!
All the best,
Skeezix the Cat

And guess what! He gave an award to everybody else at CCSI too!!!! He is the greatest!
And here is my acceptance speech:
"I want to thank the aCATemy for honoring me with this award and especially the aCATemy President Skeezix . And of course the cast and crew of CCSI - there would have been no show without you. My fellow members of Little Productions: Sassy, the founder and driving force behind everything, Opus and Roscoe, the multi talented duo from Italy who marvel as directors, actors, and cinematographers alike and of course my beloved fiance Ruis who makes the Coen brothers look like amateurs. Also a multitude of thanks to all of our actors, you know who you are and you are the ones who make the stories come alive.
I also want to thank my family: Mrs. OZ for her constructive criticism and Emil for his uncanny ability to take my mind off work once in a while!
And of course my staff, the maid and the butler. Without complaint they cater to my every need day and night.
Thank you all!
Last but not least I want to dedicate this award to my beloved Anastasia who can not be with us here tonight. I know you are watching - this is for you!!!!"

Photos by: Official Cat Naps in Italy photographer

And go here for more fabulous photos about
all CCSI participants receiving their awards!

If you haven't voted for your favorites at the Red Carpet Buzz,
hurry up and vote! Voting will be open until
Thursday, February 28, 9 pm Mountain Standard Time.

San Javier del Bac

+++ Breaking News +++

Karl got an aCATemy Award!
Come back to read about it tomorrow!

Sunday Dicky showed Brody and me 'the mission'. It is San Javier del Bac, the white dove of the desert, but everybody in Tucson just calls it 'the mission'.
It was constructed 1783 - 1797 by Tohono O'odham under Franciscan and Spanish direction.
The scaffolding is part of an ongoing restoration. The exterior cement stucco finish is being removed and replaced with a traditional plaster of lime, sand and cactus mucilage.

Outside the mission are many food booth where you can buy Indian Frybread!
I am trying out my new western outfit: sombrero and cowboy boots.

Then I checked out how the Frybread is made and we met a very nice guy whose nickname is actually 'Duck'! Dicky Duck found that most amusing.

After this we decided to take a look inside the mission and I think it is a most beautiful place!

You can buy special candles and light them so in the little side chapel we lit a candle for Gretchen's Mom Dorothy for her to be all well very soon!

And while Mike is visiting here our friends Momo, Sassy, Scylla and Charybdis and Charlotte have been visiting Asta in New York! They went to the Today show and look at the sign they are holding - I just had to show you this:

Oscar Aftermath

Did you all watch the Oscar's last night? Mrs. OZ sure did. But as the butler said: "She just wanted to make sure that no actress was wearing prettier fur than hers!" In truth I think she really likes Jon Stewart...


Later last night some weird noise woke the maid up in the middle of the night. She listened for a while and then decided to just take the camera, point it in the general direction of the sound and *flash* the scene.....

Busted! It appears that Mike had ordered some entertainment for an "After Oscar Party" and was dancing with them on the make shift stage in front of the fireplace! And he had invited all the fluffheads of The Cat Realm!
In the middle of the night!!!
Now the maid fully understands Gretchen's advice to the beans:
"...Don't forget…he is very mischievous as well as mysterious. If something happens at your house in the middle of the night this week, don't be so quick to blame your cat(s)..."

It also appears that Mrs. OZ was in full compliance with the whole scheme!

Emil and I were sleeping at the butler's place so we missed the whole fun and Mike might have to do it again!

Red Carpet Buzz!

Today is Oscar night!
And everybody is focused on the red carpet - some are actually sitting on it, hahahahahaha AND don't know how to spell, hahahahahahaha -

what will they wear - who will have the most fabulous outfit?
Do not forget to vote for your favorite dress at the
Red Carpet Buzz contest!!!

Here is The Cat Realm and Mike, all dressed up and ready for the show


and here is a group photo of Little Productions,
courtesy of Opus and Roscoe

Saguaros!

Tucson gets about 350 days of sunshine a year. The rest of them seem to be happening right now....
Karl, Emil and Mrs. OZ do not like to leave "the ranch" so today Brody and Dicky Duck showed me the desert. We drove over Gates Pass to Saguaro National Park West.
At the height of Gates Pass you have a great view of the Baboquivari Mountains with Kitt Peak at their northern end. You also see Old Tucson Studios where many movies and the TV series High Chaparral were shot and which now is a tourist attraction.

We crossed over Gates Pass and drove into the "Saguaro Forest" - I insisted on stopping and taking a picture of me in one so you can see how huge they are! The saguaro is the largest cactus in the United States, commonly reaching 40 feet and it's range is almost completely restricted to southern Arizona and western Sonora.

The we entered Saguaro National Park West. Any hope of the cloud cover breaking up had been abandoned by now. Dicky assured me we would go out again when the sun shines because it seems everything looks WAY better with sunshine....

The park has a very nice visitor center and I took my notebook because they told me it is also very educational! There are signs outside that tell you about the desert and when you look closely you can see how Dicky checks out the picture of the javelina.

Inside was a gift shop where I bought a little book about the desert for Gretchen and they also had this fabulous "hands-on" table with neat things on it:

You all know about javelina already of course. And mule deer and the desert tortoise are some other inhabitants of the desert. And here is the story about the saguaro boot:
"The Gila Woodpecker uses the Saguaro, and burrows through its tough outer flesh into the body of the plant where there is plenty of moisture, and a relatively cool environment shaded from the searing desert sun. Once through the skin, the bird makes a sharp downward turn and hollows out a space for itself. A cactus, being little more than a living water container would continuously lose moisture, and be open to infection if it didn't do something to protect itself, so the Saguaro begins to exude a resinous sap around the void which the bird has made. The sap gradually solidifies to form a hard, bark-like substance around the wound, rather like a scab on animal skin, only this scab doesn't go away. The woodpecker has learned to leave the newly excavated burrow for a while in order to let the sap harden, although other birds sometimes decide to make it their own before the woodpecker returns, particularly desert owls."

After all that education we felt the need to drive home to get some rest...

We all hopped into a cat bed to have a little nap before Karl, Emil and Mrs. OZ come in....

And that was my second day at The Cat Realm. I hope it will be sunny tomorrow...

Today is the last day to enter the contest!!!!

Mike's First Day At The Cat Realm

The first thing we do here at The Cat Realm every morning is to go around the house and check that everything is in order and safe. Usually one of the staff comes with us so that any lingering Coyote or Bobcat will - hopefully - leave...
Here you can see our cat door (on the left) in the butler's window.

And of course our guest Mike accompanied us this morning on our walk. It is still a little chilly so Mike put on one of his sweaters that he was smart enough to bring!

After the walk Mrs. OZ showed Mike the bath tub - which is not used right now due to the weather, hahahahaha! You might remember that Anastasia once lost her glasses in it....

Then it got colder again so Mike put on another one of his winter outfits to look at the vegetable garden. It is fenced in to protect the veggies against the vishus javelina but we can climb over the fence because the butler built a ladder for us!

Afterwards he wanted his picture taken in the big cactus out front because he said "The Cat Realm is crazy - even the cactus wears glasses here!" Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha, and he is right!

And then the first day was over and we all watched a beautiful sunset.

We did teleport over to the Rodeo Parade shortly yesterday - pictures will follow.

Only one more day left to enter the contest!!!!

And don't forget to help Churchill and Bruno (takes a while to load, be patient...)!

Mike Is Here!

Gretchen's Mom is doing better it seems but do go over there and send her some healing purrs, please!
The technical problems all got figured out and here is Mike in the teleportation room, on his way to us, with Gretchen saying good bye.

Mrs. OZ was taking a little walk in the sun, still trying to 'air' out her head from all the niptinis she consumed at Mao's party, telling Emil (to the left of the picture) to be quiet (the headache!) and that Mike will be coming soon now...

when all of a sudden he materialized out of thin air!

Mrs. OZ was just a tiny bit baffled...

After the teleportation and the change in climate Mike felt a little jet lagged and decided to take a long nap in front of the cosy fireplace that Mrs. OZ got going for him.

Maybe later on she will take him to the Tucson Rodeo Parade - or maybe not. We 'll see.
Tomorrow Mrs. OZ - who was appointed his official tour guide - will show him around the house a bit. And she sure welcomed that nap too, hahahahahahahaha!

We Are Waiting For Mike!

Mike was scheduled to arrive here today but due to some technical problems he will come tomorrow. We are all very excited! Mrs. OZ was appointed his official tour guide and of course Brody - our souvenir penguin from Antarctica, named after our friend in McMurdo Station - will help her.

Make sure to visit Mike's room mate Gretchen and send some healing purrs to her Mom! She is o.k. but had to go back to the hospital for four days over the weekend and needs our help to recover!

P.S. And if you think Mrs. OZ looks a bit sick you are right! She had some niptinis too many at Chairman Mao's awesome gotcha day party yesterday, hahahahahahahahahaha!

Another Award!

wildcatsthree at their Living Well blog have given us the Winning Attitude Award!

This award was created by Mel at Monday Morning Power. Here is his description of the award:

"I have always wanted to create and give out my own award. So after much thought I have decided to create the "WINNING ATTITUDE AWARD." This award seems like a natural given what my site is all about. This award is based on positive thinking and is meant for those blogs who base their existence, in part or in whole, on Positive Winning Attitudes."

Thank you Chris for passing this on to us, we appreciate it a lot!

We like to give it to Moki and the Meezers. If there were ever cats with a positive attitude it would be those!!!

Mancat Monday and Awards

Today I feel like a FUNKY MANCAT...
Our dear friend Charlie passed "this award on to some more funky blogs by some funky dogs *and cats* who have funkified my blogging experience" and gave the Funky Blog Award to Ruis and me!
And then my friend Momo gave it to me too!!!
So I am FUNKY today - don't you agree?

But it doesn't end there! Ruis and I got a honorable mention for our Valentine entries at Skeezix Valentine's Day Kontest!

And if that wouldn't be enough: I WON BEST VALENTINE TO A KITTY in Monty Q's "Who do you Love" contest!

Now that's what I call a Mancat Monday!!!

Mrs. OZ Ode To Spring

Simple Siamese has organized a Spring Contest because everybody is waiting for it to arrive! And Sammy & Miles still need help and while everybody is still helping with project HAM and the other great contests that have contributed, Simply Siamese wanted to do something special for their very devoted friends and for every entry Latte's Mom is going to donate $1 to project HAM. This contest is for ALL cats, not just meezers so please tell your friends to join us and spread the word!!!
P.S. This picture was taken a few days ago and then yesterday IT SNOWED again. And as we live in TUcson you can imagine that snow is a very rare occurrence here.....

Happy Valentine To Everybody!

Ruis and Karl

And we received this beautiful Valentine from our special friend Sassy:

Go and check this one out!

And of course don't miss the Valentine Love Cruise Party!