Poor Pippin is having another flare-up of his diarrhea. He was in good shape for such a long time, I thought he was past those intestinal problems. We had to do some emergency clean-up last night with Randy holding Pippin in his arms and me doing the nasty part. Pippin got so upset, he bit and clawed Randy's hands. He's usually such a sweet boy, but not at that moment.
I went to the store this morning and picked up some pumpkin puree. Fortunately, he seems to like it and polished off a serving of pumpkin-laced cat food.

In case you ever wondered how the internet came to be, wonder no more.

Ouch. Had an expensive trip to the vet, but nothing like the one coming up. I hauled Tosca, Jetta and Zoe to the vet for vaccinations and check-ups. They're all in good shape, except that Tosca fairly urgently needs to have a tooth removed and her teeth cleaned. That'll run between $450 - $500, but the vet said the tooth is causing her pain, so I'll have to deal with it. Hopefully Bast will send some work my way soon.

Where the heck has January gone?

One of the best cat toys ever are ping pong balls. Our tortie girls love them (Pippin stoutly ignores such trivial distractions 99% of the time), but the balls tend to disappear quickly and remain lost for a long time until Randy finally locates one under a chair or the sofa, or I find one behind the toilet in the bathroom. Last night, Randy was looking for a ping pong ball to toss and couldn't find one. He gave up after saying to Opal, "Where's the ball?" Two minutes later, Opal obligingly found a ball and batted it into the open.

Who says cats don't understand us?

AND WE HAVE WINNERS!
I wanted to use the first post of 2010 to announce the winners of the SIMON'S CAT BOOK CONTEST. Here's how the selections were made. First, I printed up the names of everyone who entered, then I cut the names into strips and folded up the strips so I couldn't see the names.

I chose Saffy to do the actual selecting because she loves to play with paper and is always ready to "help" us file papers by diving into them and spreading them across the floor. I figured this made her the perfect one to pick names. I tossed all the pieces of paper into the air in front of her. On each toss, she would choose one or two. I would remove those and toss the papers again. By the end of that process: a) I had the five winners, and; b) Saffy thought I was completely nuts.

The lucky winners are:
Erin Barrington
Tony Bauman
Karen DiCicco
Jennifer Jones
Jeremy Preacher

Winners, you should have received email from me, so let me know if you don't. Thanks to everyone who entered the contest. I'm sorry I can't send books to all of you!

I found the office moggies clustered around the pathetic remains of...something. At first, I suspected the leftover guts of a rodent. Upon peering more closely with a flashlight, I was surprised to discover it was a small newt or salamander. It had the blunt, rounded head, smooth glossy skin and solid coloring of a newt-like creature. How on earth it found its way into my office to meet its sad fate is beyond me, though the thunderstorm may have had something to do with it. It's not like my office (previously a garage) is even remotely airtight or watertight.

		Animal	All Bird Cat Dog Horse Pig Rabbit Reptile Small&Furry	Breed		Zip Code