Turkey (Cat Food) Day

Happy Thanksgiving from Newport Oregon!

Another beautiful day on the coast.


A final lap around the beach and its time to...

...pick up McDonald's breakfast and head home to the family

for the traditional festivities and feast.

Its gorgeous in the valley, so we all head out for a walk.

The boys tell us Katy is hiding under the shed, no worries,

we have plenty of dinner for everyone.

Even a stray hummingbird gets its own can full of sugar water.

O.K. Uschi, you're heading home to eat some turkey, so

the grown-ups can head out to dinner with Grand-Meow.

All dressed up and ready to party.

Hours later after feasting...

The whole family, including Digby and friends, may have
overdone it a bit.  Naps for everyone!

Thanksgiving Begins

 This year we started Thanksgiving celebrations early by heading

to the coast on a beautiful calm day.  In less than an hour's drive...

Woo-hooooo, the holidays begin!

The water is always cold, but the air is balmy.


Time to feel sand between the toes.

 Gorgeous reflections and gentle waves.

 We need to do this every once in a while.

 The sun is setting, everything is calming down.

 The seagulls have settled onto their individual perches.

 Heceta Head lighthouse is glowing in the dimming light.

 Its tradition for people to stop and watch the last rays of sun

as it sets over the horizon.

 Its easy to be thankful when the world is this beautiful.

Time to start the feasting early at the local Irish pub :).

Getting Bigger

Digby and his four merry men are going to be BIG.

They are the only family members not getting junk food,

but they can certainly polish off a handful of corn.

 Bailey is "shopping" on the desk for the rest of the corn.
Check out that cute little belly bulge.
He is most definitely NOT going to be Vladi's new friend.

Junk Food Run

We are known for our junk food runs:

cakes, doughnuts, cookies,

pizza, cheese, chips, drinks,

ice cream, candy, well you get the idea.

But our biggest junk food runs by far are for the boys...

 Tanji is intercepting one of two trips up the path,

cases of Fancy Feast and Friskies cans

that the boys share as treats when we wake up

and when they come in from a walk.

 Followed by bags of Fancy Feast that are a late-night

snack, when Uschi gives us mushi meows we can't ignore.

The boys' main food staples are bags of dry Royal Canin, and

an assortment of other expensive brands that they eat grudgingly.

At heart, we are a snack food family.

Fall Colors

 This has been a simply stunning fall, with the leaves staying

on the trees long enough to develop bright reds,

just as the grass is turning emerald green.

 Vladi seems to know exactly where to pose.

The brisk temperatures put a spring in everyone's step...

 Spring!

 Followed by...

Zoooooommmmmm!

Bag Boy

 Vladi loves being carried around in a paper bag.

 We're pretty sure he was a toy dog breed in a previous life,

carried around in some wealthy lady's purse.

 The best part for Vladi is that Tanji can't resist V-in-a-bag.

Where are you going, I'm still in the bag!

One Home

We have good news!

After some time maintaining two households,

we are re-integrating as a family into one home.

 Needless to say, Uschi and the rest of us are pretty darn happy.

 Stacks of bins waiting to be stored have created prime real estate.

Currently the biggest battle is for the highest bin,

Tanji is pretty sure its his turn to be king of the hill.

Source of the Stink

Bags of stinky fleece are coming from

our five newest family members:

 Golly, Benny, Bailey, Digby, and Gilly.

All are black hooded male rats; Digby is the largest and was

someone else's pet before he was put up for adoption,

Gilly and Golly are brothers, and so are Benny and Bailey.

 The four little guys had never been handled, and spent the first

day frozen, and the next few days grabbing food and hiding.

 This was as close as they wanted to get.

 Then big Digby joined the little guys and he has been calm and

sweet enough to settle everyone down.

 All of a sudden the boys were frolicking together in the open.

In three weeks, we have five growing and inquisitive boys.

 So it was time for a big-rattie cage.
Some assembly required...

 The "Skyscraper" rat cage from Martin's Cages.

Their service and cage design are exceptional.

 Digby fell over with excitement a few times when he found

his new luxury suite.

 In the past few days the boys have been climbing, ripping,

gnawing, wee-ing, exploring, and loving their new home.

Luckily these cuties live at school, they would be way too

tempting for three Bengal boys.