Better than a teddy bear!!

This is a picture of me enjoying my favourite thing in the world - my scarf.In this picture you can see how we sleep. Mum has the patterned pillow and mine is the one with the polar fleece cover right next to it.

So after mum letting me have a week in the lounge when I came home, she then let me explore the hallway and her bedroom. I was only 10 weeks old and the first thing I did after running in and out and smelling the hallway - was find my scarf. It was hanging on on my mums coat rack. I dragged it down and pulled it around. Then I dragged it up on my bed.

Now before I go to sleep and if I want to relax I start pulling and suckling on my scarf. My mum thinks it makes me remember my real cat mum. I close my eyes and relax and I sure do love it!!

Just in case of emergencies I have a spare scarf stashed in my cat igloo. It is the same except it is green. I stole that one from mums scarf rack as well.

My mum had to go and buy herself another scarf for this winter. She says its real expensive and keeps it hidden from me.

Poppy Q

Teddy Bear Love

This is me in some photos taken today. You can see how big I have grown compared to some of the other pictures mum has taken. This is my teddy bear - it is mine, No-one elses!!! I like to chase it under mums bed and make it live under there. Mum found it last night again for me. So I chased it and chewed it, and then I ended up falling asleep on top of it.

Some of you flash cats may have toy bananas, but I love my teddy bear!!

Poppy Q

NB - mum says it is very unusual to see Poppy being nice to the bear. Normally she is chewing it and giving it a tummy punch with her sharp claws. However she is a good kitten and doesn't use her claws or her teeth on me.

Running around

Hi everyone, this is me in full action 'running' mode. Now I am a bit bigger I don't usually run so fast. However on the day the photo was taken I had to run fast - somewhere.

We felt a bit sad last night writing about Puss. Mum misses her lots and tells me to be a good girl like her. She had a wee cry thinking about Puss and what a tough time it was this time last year. But like with any death of family or friends mum tries to not focus on the last few days. She remembers all of the good times that they had together.

One of the other things Puss liked to do was to sit on the front porch of the house and wait for mum to come home. It is up high and she could see right to the corner of the street. As soon as mum came round the corner Puss would call out to her and race down the steps and under the gate. Then mum would have to stop and pat her. And stop on step number one, step number three and step number five for a pat and a talk. After that keys in the door, race into the house and then ignore mum all evening.

I have been out on the step waiting a couple of days in the past fortnight. Mum likes to see a little face waiting for her - but it is getting cold now and I don't know if I could stay out there for long. So often I listen real good and when I hear mums front gate make noises I know she is home. I jump of her bed and run into the hallway and call and call her until she comes in.

Usually then I cry and cry until mum checks my bowl for me. Biscuits first then cold clean water please. Once done I escape through the cat door and begin patrols.

Poppy Q

Let us tell you about PUSS

This is Puss. Puss was mums cat before me. One sunny day, once upon a time, Puss climbed through mums lounge window. The one I am looking out of in yesterdays post. She was very dirty and scruffy looking, and whenever mum said "hello Puss" she purred and purred. Mum was good and did not feed her for a whole week. She wondered why such a lovely cat looked like it was living rough. After a week mum gave in and fed Puss. So Puss moved in and adopted mum. If Puss was your cat and you feel mum stealed her - she is very sorry!!!

Mum thinks Puss was about 9 years old when she first came to stay, and she was a great cat. She loved to talk and sleep on mums bed. Her favourite thing - going for a walk on rubbish bag nite. The minute mum touched the yellow rubbish bags Puss would run for the front door, meowing as she went. She would run down the stairs and head for the street. Mum would take the bags out at 10:30pm so the street was quiet and Puss would run next to mum up one side and down the other. Puss would roll in the gutters and stop for pats at designated patting spots. It was a weekly tradition and people would laugh when they saw mum and her cat out for a walk.

In the summer Puss got sick with a nasty abscess on her tail and when she had to have a blood test she got diagnosed with renal failure. Renal failure is awful and we see that some lovely cats in the blogger community are living with it now. We had some good months though. Mum was very lucky as Puss did not mind the special renal biscuits she had to eat. In the tough times mum was like all the other mums and let her eat anything she needed.

Mum also had to learn how to give sub-cut injections of fluid which helped Puss for a while. It was tough at the end and we send out our good thoughts to you all coping with this. If we can help you let us know.

This is puss playing her favourite game in the bed - where's puss!!

We will tell you more about Puss in other posts.

Poppy Q

Yahhhhhhhhhhoooooooooooooooo !!

Yahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhooooo!! Pictures are working from home finally!! This is me inspecting our garden. All those little plants in pots are ones mum is meant to be looking after for her friend. I hope she likes twigs in dusty pots for they not green anymore. Mum has no green fingers.

Poppy Q

Happy sunday

Hey Cats - we want to wish you a happy Sunday. Our sunday is coming to a close and for many of you yours is just beginning. We hope you have a lovely day and take the time out to stop and smell some flowers!!! This picture of me is a from a couple of months ago. I am a bit bigger now!!

Oh I got to play MOUSE OLYMPICS this evening. Our tricky trap with peanut butter caught a naughty mouse in the cupboard. Mum made sure it was dead before I was allowed to watch it flip over and over. I keep wanting to bring it inside but mum says "no poppy - take it outside". It allowed outside forever but if I bring it in more than four times it will have to have a holiday in the rubbish bin!! Not fair I say. Happy mousing to you all.

Poppy Q

Why would I want to read a book?

Oh that mum. She thinks she would like to write about books. What use do pussy cats have for books.

One of this years discoveries was The Brief History of the Dead by Kevin Brockmeier. Now mum says don't be put off by the title, she enjoyed it so much that five months later she still thinks about it and will have to reread it sometime (which she normally never does). It tells two stories at once. Laura who is doing research in the Antartictica - while the world surcomes to the latest epidemic. She struggles after being abandoned and has to go to see if there is any help. The other story is about a city where people go to after they die. It is not heaven or hell - but has buildings, coffee shops, work and parks. They all stay there until they are joined by everyone they know.

Mum loved this book. Not many books lately have left such an impression on her. She recommends picking it up from the library if you want a good read and she hopes you enjoy it. Mum has to study later in the year so she is trying to get lots of reading out of the way. As soon as the semester starts she will have to take all the library books back. No dvds either until summer holidays and she will also have to just say "No" to some tv. Why do the good series start at the same time as study?

If only I could convince mum to get some books on how to catch your cat more mice and birds!!

Poppy Q

Yahhh a picture at last!!

Well mum has finally got a picture of me up on a post. The annoying thing is she has done it at work as the home computer is still not working!!!! We don't know what we did to stop it working.


I was a good girl and came and had an arm cuddle this morning. I was very gently and tried not to wake mum up. An arm cuddle is when I come and sit right on your arm above your elbow. Mum doesn't know why I do this but I have done it since I was a kitten.


Now the weather is colder I sometimes sleep between mums knees. She is a bit wriggly though so I often have to move and sleep in my number one place. Number one place is on a pillow with a polar fleece blanket beside mums pillow.


Number two sleeping choice is once mum leaves the bed I want to sleep where she was!! At night she sits on the end of the bed and checks the computer so I climb in to number two spot and warm it up. If it is cold she sticks the electric blanket on early for me. For your information the two pictures on this post show me in the number two spot. It also shows me as a brown pussy cat - I not brown I am grey (like the colour mums hair has turned due to blogger/computer issues).


Ahhhhhhhhhhh mum wishes she could sleep all day like a wee cat.



No mum you have to go out to pay for cat biscuits and catnip mice.




poppy q



Ahhhhhhhhhh tricky. Mum can post pictures at work and write the post but not publish it. So now it gets complicated. It seems we have to email pictures to work. Go to work, write post and add pictures then save the draft. Then go home to publish it!!! The things we do for fame!!

ohhhhhhhhhh mum is stressed - still no pictures!!!

Howdy cats and mums and dads,
Well the working week is ending here in NZ. Mum is on-call again but hoping that everyone behaves tonight cause she is tired.

We still can't get any pictures up. We have signed up to Picasa as lots of sites said you should try pictures using that. But mums broadband is too slow to upload to a web album. We now have tried to upgrade our broadband package but that will take a couple of days. Mum has grown lots and lots and lots of grey hairs doing this. So sorry no super cute pictures of me.

I had some pictures ready of me doing stuff - like smelling the flowers, running, guarding the garden that you might like to see. But you will have to come back later and we will try again.

So to entertain you we will tell you of our favourite game: MOUSE OLYMPICS

What you need to play : One mouse - toy mouse (preferably with catnip) or one that mum has trapped in a mouse trap, and is already dead. Please note we do not approve of this game with any live mouses. This is only for toys or deaded ones!!

How to play: Get your toy mouse and chase,chase and chase it. Then carry it into the house. Swat it with your paws and make it double or triple flip.

How to score points: Most points for a triple flip in the air.

How to lose points: Bring the deaded mouse onto mums bed - the one she through outside two weeks ago!!! Or leave same mouse ( with maggot pals attatched) on the couch, bath mat or rug.

We apologize to any mums and dads that have mouses for pets. We had mice for pets once and they were loving and sweet pets with cool little personalities. Mum only approves of me playing this with my felt toy mouse but I try and sneak the dead ones in!!!

What games do you guys play?

Pops and mum.

Grrrrrrrrr pictures!!

Howdy friends,
well Thursday was certainly better than Wednesday for us. It was mums day off but the alarm worked and woke us up today. Because mum didn't have to hurry out we could stay and cuddle.

The sun was shining so mum left me at home and went for a long walk. She had fun and came home to tackle the computer. After 7hours of yelling at it last night it is working better - yippeee!! However we are having issues. Everytime we go to load a picture the wee circle thing comes up for a minute, then it stops flashing, has a wee think and then says unable to connect to server. Does any of you clever beans know how to help mum fix this problem? She has a lot of nice pictures of me to share. She also knows some of you have been blogging for a longgggggggggg time!!!

Have a lovely day.

Poppy Q and mum.
xx

What a day!!

What a day - for mum anyway!!

You know the day starts bad when you sleep in!! Not so good to wake up at 9am when you were due to start at 8.30am!! Ohhh ohhh! Mum remembers setting the alarm so she reckons I must of turned it off so she would stay and cuddle. Not time for cuddles when running late.

Then when she got home she cooked a yummy tea. No horrible burnt potato smells tonight. Howver when placing the leftovers in the fridge the fridge made them fall out and tip on the floor - oh no. Then there have been 7 hours of the computer not woking properly and letting us get into blogger!! I think I heard mum swear a bit. Best to lie down on my chair in the lounge - I can watch her through the doorway and hear her curse like a sailor ( she doesn't swear often!!).

Now she can't get a picture up yet again!! Is she the only one having this problem?

Please let things be better tomorrow. Wish us luck for a better day.

You all have a lovely day and we hope you are getting the good luck that has passed us by!

Poppy Q

We can finally get a gorgeous picture up!!

See - wouldn't you stay at home to snuggle me?

Finally blogger likes a picture!!

Poppy Q

Thank you Millie

That fabulous modern Millie said we had to answer some questions - we like games! Especially Mouse Olympics. If you are all good we will tell you how to play.


Time of Day - Morning. Once mum is up she has to show me where my biscuits are every morning in case they have moved. Then she showers and comes back to bed for a wee read while her hair drys. This is the best time to snuggle and cuddle Mum prefers the evening time as that is her time to relax.

Day of the Week - Any day mum doesn't have to work as we can snuggle longer.

Season of the Year - Summer yeah!!! (of course I haven't actually met winter or spring yet!!)

Holiday - Gotta love me that christmas tree with all the dangly cat toys on it.

Beaches - NZ (new zealand) beaches are all pretty good. Mum says she goes for walks a couple of days a week beside the beach. She loves them!

Song - You're All I have - snow patrol, Gravity - John Mayer, Deceiphering me - Brooke Fraser. Brooke is a local kiwi chick and she is awesome!! If you want a funky girl singer to listen to who can hold a tune live check her out on itunes. Look out for her song Arithmetic - its beautiful!!

Flower - Gerbras bring summer inside.

Talkshow - Oh we a bit tired of all the talking and the b-grade celebs.

Movie - Before Sunset

Soaps - Vanilla (we don't watch any soaps unless you count Greys anatomy).

Beverage - Water - better watch where you put your glass or Poppy Q will have her face in it!

Fruit - Mum likes strawberries, pineapples and gold kiwifruit.

Snack - Friskies

Food - We are both not too fussy!

Restaurant - Poppy Qs summer dining in the backyard - can't beat it.


We are not sure how to tag anyone yet but we hope you enjoy the answers.

Grrr blogger we can't add photos again!!! We will try to log out and send you all a picture!!

See ya!

Late Night

It is a late night in the poppy house. Mum finished work way after dinner time. Now she is watching sex and the city - good tv to end the evening to. Then she will have to do the dishes before coming in to warm the bed up.

So I have been on late night patrol. That means doing a circuit of the house and making sure naughty cat isn't around. I check and make sure that there aren't any mice running around and I will see if I can surprise some birds. Mum tells me the birds should be asleep now but how come I found one at 3am?

Nite nite everyone.

"Sorry we couldn't get any pictues to load tonight - the done button wouldn't come up".

Goodbye fat doctor

We just wanted to post to say goodbye to the first blogger we ever read - Fat doctor. Fat doctor was awesome. She is the same age as mum and a wife and mother. Her blog told the story of her struggles with weight and having to deal with two strokes in her thirties. She also told of all of her hard work dealing with patients in the modern health system. Her honesty and humour were appreciated by many and I had the pleasure of reading from the sidelines for the past 9 months.

Goodbye fat doctor blogger - we will miss you. You made us smile!

Where we live

Well today is a bit of a slow day. Mum had to go to the hospital again last night so we both had to have a sleep in til 10:30. I was good and didn't wake up til mum opened her eyes. Of course I was lying on my pillow looking at her and wishing she would wake up and feed me!!!

Today has been a bit cloudy but warm enough for us to not need the heater on. Mum has annoyed me with spending all day ironing and sewing. She says she has lots of t-shirts to get made for all the nice people who have placed orders this week. She will show you some one day soon.

So I though while she was busy I would show you where we live. We live in Wellington which is New Zealands capital city. It is also where the famous five live!! I am not sue how to link to them but they are already famous blog kitties and they live not too far from us!

Now these streets are the posh end of town and although mums house is old, it is not sitting high on the hill overlooking the water. Those houses are for rich people and their cats!!!

We live in a quiet street but it has lots of gardens for me to climb around in and not too many cars rushing by!

This is a pictue of the houses round where we live!!

We hope you have all had a lovely weekend (Sunday evening here) and I need to go to help mum with all of her ribbons and threads. It is my job to chase them around the floor and show here where they went to. We hope you have enjoyed your wee tour!

Poppy Q xx

When I arrived

This is me - as a blue eyed baby!!



Well mum was so busy looking at the blogs tonight she has made the house all stinky by burning the potatoes. I am grumpy about the smell and it is going to be ages before the steak is ready!! Actually I am not too keen on human food - I will play with my bit of steak for a while and come back and eat it an hour later. Then when I go and ask mum for more, she has eaten it all up!! Greedy girl. I will however make her share margarine,cheescake or icecream - yummm!!!

So while the second batch are cooking, we thought we would tell you a bit about coming to my forever home.

I was one of at least 50 kittens born at a cattery here in New Zealand and I was the bravest and the first to leave to go home with my human. I had 5 brothers and a sister. It was fun there and we shared our room with another 6 half brothers and sisters. My mum came and met me for a pat when I was only four weeks old. She had already picked out my name so Poppy is what I was called. Nobody else had a name but me!!!

Now mum knows that some fantastic cats come from the SPCA and cat shelters. In fact all the other family cats have been adopted this way. We will tell you their stories later as well as the story of Puss angel mums last cat. Puss died last year and mums heart was a bit broken as Puss was her buddy and such a good cat. She happened to look on the internet and found the wee cattery that I was born at. The best thing about it was the breeder Anna who looked after us was a vet nurse. She was also very friendly and kept mum up to date with photos of the kittens. Mum had always like the idea of having a British Blue and as mum has now entered middle age (just kidding) ,she thought now would be the best time to get a dream cat!!!





It took two hours to get home in the car but I didn't cry much. When I got into the house though I was a bit scared and run and hid under the couch. Mum just let me explore slowly and kept me in just the lounge for the first week. I had come home on the 30th of December and although it is summer time then in New Zealand, we had hit a cold patch. But that was ok as mum put the heater on and gave me a cuddly kitten igloo to sleep in.

I ws brave and sat near mum and listened to her. Later she convinced me to snuggle up on her and I had an exhausted sleep.

First night at home - 30 Dec 2006!!

Mum says I have been a good kitten and known what my dirt box was for since I arrived. Now at six months old I am good and use my cat door and run outside and go in the garden!! Not so nice in winter but I have managed to not have any accidents yet (not that mum has found).

Well time to go and check out the steak!!!

Hiya everycat and body!!!

Hiya there everycat and body!!

We are just getting up to begin our day. I know it is late at 9.45am, but mum had to get up in the middle of the night, and not to remove any presents from her bed!! She works at the hospital and had to go in to help some people. I was a good girl and curled up on her side of the bed to keep it warm. It is my job to be in charge of the bed and if she is lucky she gets to share with me!!!

What a lovely surprise to see so many cats had been to visit me. Thank you all for taking the time out to welcome us - what fun!!

It is already Saturday morning here and as it is sunny mum says we are not to sit in front of the computer all day. So I am off to help with the washing - I am great at pulling things off the line and it is time for morning patrol!! Naughty neighbour cat has been sneaking in and stealing biscuits and he must be stopped. More on naughty cat later!!!

Poppy Q

xxx

Hello and goodnight!!

Ohh - how rude!!

We forgot to say goodnight!! We promise to write again soon!! Poppy will try to sleep through the night and not wake mum up at 3am like she did last week!! 3am with a dead bird on the bed and feathers everywhere.

Good night everybody or nobody!

Poppy Q

Hello

Welcome to our wee blog. We come to you from New Zealand and this is the story of me - Poppy Q.

I am a British shothair kitten who is now just over 6 months old. Life is still a big adventure for me and I am lucky to be able to come and stay at my forever home with my mum.

We only discovered blogs a few months ago and can only hope that we are able to make you smile and entertain you on a slightly regular basis.

Thank you Millie and Miss Lynne at Darling Millie for making us feel guilty about not having a blog!! So here we are - at the beginning of our blogging career!