Mancat Monday

The Ball Guy and Sweet Pea came over this weekend to put together our new bed frame.



They did such a great job! This is so comfy.




There's enough room for a big snuggle pile.





What the...??!



This isn't what I had in mind, dude! I was hoping for something more Tortie-like.



See ya!



Samson
xoxo

Mancat Monday

While I thoroughly enjoy being the only Mancat in a house filled with girls, it can get a little much occasionally.

Almost every photograph of me these days includes a female in the background.



And around every corner is a female stealing my treats or lap time with Mommy.



Or stealing the spotlight.



That's why I love it when The Ball Guy comes by. We can hang out and do man things like eat in front of the TV and talk about the girlcats.



Hey, how about sharing some of that pizza with me, Ball Guy?



Samson
xoxo

Fin

The last, but certainly not the least of our portrait contest winners is our lovely friend, Fin.

The Ball Guy chose a different photo than the original one just because of the resolution of the first photo, so we hope Fin and her humans are pleased.



Mom said she will mail it out to you this week, Fin. I will be sending along a token of my affection for you also, so keep on the lookout!

The Ball Guy has also opened an Etsy store for pen and ink drawings like the ones he did for our contest winners. You can find a link to the store in the sidebar.

We hope you have a fabulous weekend!

Samson
xoxo

The Artist's Apprentice

Sweet Pea came over for another visit yesterday and the humans are getting a little discouraged. Delilah is showing no signs of relenting - she hisses and growls the whole time! I was a little more relaxed this time, but did start some growling near the end of the evening. Mommy and The Ball Guy are wondering if maybe bringing Sweet Pea over is too stressful for us. But she did buy a new Feliway diffuser online that hasn't been delivered yet, so she wants to try at least one more time with the sweet smell of synthetic cat pheromones wafting about. We'll see how that works.

I think Deli was right when she said that watching Sweet Pea on film and in pictures is much better than having her here! It seems that she's already developed a few charming habits working and living with The Ball Guy. She's taken on the task of being his assistant when he draws.

The Ball Guy is busy working on the portraits for our contest winners and other things that he has to do for work, and Sweet Pea has begun her job as his cute little helper!



As you can see, she's organizing his reference photos for him.



This is where she sits when he's drawing (when she's not trying to reorganize his paintbrushes and pens) to make sure he's doing a good job.



Apparently she got a little wild with the photo of Ginger Jasper and dragged it under the desk to tumble with! Sorry, GJ! She is a kitten, after all! Mommy says that Ginger Jasper is so handsome that Sweet Pea was just trying to get closer to him. Thankfully, it was just the reference photo that she got her paws on and not the actual drawing!

Have a great weekend!

Samson
xoxo

Tortie Tuesday

This is the second Tortie Tuesday that I'm sharing with The Ball Guy's new kitten 'Sweet Pea' (her name is still not official but he's getting close!).



She is still a bit too young to type legibly, so to save her the embarrassment of spelling errors and kitten talk, I am helping her out.



She had her vet appointment last night and she had her shots and deworming pills, so she's scheduled to meet Samson and I for the first time on Friday. According to the vet, she's in perfect health and she's a full 2 pounds! I hope I don't squish her with my dense, muscular 12 pounds!

I'm quite impressed with her moves, although she is, naturally, displaying a certain kitten-like ineptitude. I especially like her skilled use of the 'I meant to do that' face when she falls on her back and can't quite get up.




I have already developed a certain fondness for the little tyke, however, Torties are not very good at sharing and I'm getting a little tired of it. I'm petitioning to add another Tortie day to the blogging week. Perhaps a Tortie Tursday? I don't care how it sounds, I just want it to happen! I'm using my best stern look so that Mommy does something about this travesty. I've been extremely accommodating and, without a foreseeable end to this cute kitten Tortie madness, I must take matters into my own paws.



I am very accustomed to sharing The Ball Guy's affections with other Torties; I've even caught him browsing the CB looking at Isabella, Tasha, Sweet Praline and Callie (to name a few), and I don't have a problem sharing him with Sweet Pea...my problem is sharing my Tortie Tuesday with her. It's bad enough that I have to split my blog with Samson, but for the love of Cod, don't mess with my Tuesdays! Join me in protesting this absurd state of affairs!

Delilah
xoxo

Tortie Love

The Ball Guy has been without a cat in his home for 5 years now. When he lost his best buddy Toop 5 years ago, he was devastated and was hesitant to get another cat. Well Samson and I have changed that for him. Do you really think he comes over to see Mommy? Nah, he's here to see me! Since he met me, he's been looking at torties all the time, dreaming about having one (or two) all to himself! I give him as much affection as I can, but I think he needs some when he's at his house too.

Mommy has been working on a surprise for him for a Christmas gift for a long time. She wants to get him two torties, preferably sisters and kittens (but older ones are fine too). She's lousy at keeping secrets so when she found these kittens online yesterday, she immediately told The Ball Guy.



They're 6 weeks old and will be ready for adoption on November 15th. Normally she wouldn't actually post about them until she was sure that she could get them, but she knows the magic of the CB and what positive purrs from our friends can do.

Please keep your paws crossed! The Ball Guy definitely needs some full-time tortie love.

Delilah
xoxo

P.S. If you haven't already submitted your entry to our portrait contest, please check yesterday's post for instructions on how to submit your photos.

Mancat Monday

For all of you who commented on Friday to let The Ball Guy know to give me treats while Mommy's been away, I thank you very much. I must say though, it's been an exhausting weekend being cute for treats.




As much as I like The Ball Guy, I'm really looking forward to Mommy coming home today for some Mommy-quality snuggles!



Samson
xoxo

Thanksgiving Weekend

This weekend it's Thanksgiving in Canada and Mommy is going away to visit her brothers and mother in Ontario. The Ball Guy is staying with Delilah and I. She should be arriving home sometime on Monday, but I thought I'd show you how I'll be working to get treats from The Ball Guy when Mommy is not here.



Pretty cute, huh? One would think he'd just melt and run immediately to get me treats, but he's a tough nut to crack.

Is it possible to leave a comment and let The Ball Guy know that Mommy always gives me treats when I do this? I don't think he's aware. Thanks!

To our Canadian friends, we wish you a wonderful Thanksgiving and a fantastic weekend to everyone else!

Samson
xoxo

P.S. Once again the humans were too busy to finish a Friday Funnies, but we're hoping they can finally do one for next Friday!

Tortie Tuesday

As Samson reported yesterday, Mommy had some dinner guests on Saturday night.

He hinted that I was all over the men in attendance, but I was just being my usual social self. I just love guests!

Mommy's friend, Scott, was giving me the best scratches!





Both Samson and The Ball Guy were a little jealous at the attention I was giving him and Remo, but I was loving every minute of it!






I had to make up for it later with The Ball Guy because, even though he said he wasn't, he was a little bit jealous.



It's good to keep them on their toes!

Happy Tortie Tuesday!

Delilah
xoxo

Delilah's Gotcha Day!

Today is my 3-year Gotcha Day!

Thank you, Ann from Zoolatry for the beautiful graphic!

I am so happy I found my Mommy and I am pretty sure she's happy she found me! I was so hungry, wandering around all alone outside. This place is warm, loving and there's all the food I can eat. We're a very happy family when you add Samson and The Ball Guy coming over sometimes to play fetch with me. My life is beautiful!

Samson used his allowance and got me this cool incline scratcher! So far none of us have used it as an actual scratcher (except Mommy when she was showing us how it's used) but the ball in it is very fun to bat around.



Samson, the lazy one, discovered that it makes a great nap place.



Today is also the first time I get to celebrate my Gotcha Day with all my wonderful friends in the Cat Blogosphere! To get the party started, we have plenty of treats, toys and nip to go around.

To make things even more exciting, we won a contest over at Baby Patches' blog! We won a container of Cat-Man-Doo Dried Bonito Flakes! We're so excited because they look so yummy! Samson and I are both big fans of fishy flavors.

My wish is that all the kitties that have not been gotcha'd, will hit the jackpot like I did, so I'm going to make a donation this week to a cat charity (I haven't decided which one yet) to help my dream come true. I've been saving my allowance so I'll let you all know which one I decide on later this week.

Thank you all for visiting me and I hope you have a wonderful day!

Delilah
xoxo

Friday Funnies

Mommy and my beloved Ball Guy did a little comic strip of Samson and I that they think is funny (The Ball Guy did all the drawing). I find it hard to understand how our real life drama is amusing...but we'll indulge them.

You may have to click the strip to make it easier to see. Mommy can't figure out how to post it at full-size.



Have a great weekend!

Delilah
xoxo

Budget

Mommy has always had a problem managing her finances. Frankly, Samson and I don't think she spends enough on toys for us, but that's only a small part of the problem. She has decided to follow The Ball Guy's advice and work on a budget for her spending. We're all a little surprised that she's actually listening to The Ball Guy!



As part of the budget, Samson and I are going to be receiving a weekly allowance. We will be allowed to spend it on whatever or whomever we want! The allowance is for everything above and beyond our food, shelter and vet bills (and we're pretty sure Mom will still buy us some toys). So, in other words, it's for toys! She's hoping that we will be charitable and not too greedy (she was looking pointedly at me when she said that...I don't know why).

Mommy suggested the weekly sum to be $3.00 each. That's ridiculous; that doesn't even cover the cost of one bag of 4 soccer balls ($3.69 CDN + tax). I think $10.00 a week is a little more in the ball park. I've sent Samson to her to do the buttering up since compromise is not one of my strong suits. I told him to use whatever means he has at his disposal, especially the yawn-squeak. I have no idea why, but she turns to mush every time he makes that absurd noise.

We'll let you know what the final number is as soon as we can all agree on an amount. Let's just hope that Samson's charms will be profitable for us!

Delilah
xoxo

P.S. I've gotten the (ever-willing) Ball Guy, to help transcribe this blog, as I don't want Mommy to get wind of my tactics while we're in discussions.

When you're this big, they call you Mister

Do you remember that yawn-squeak that Mommy talked about and was trying to capture on film? Well, she was beginning to think it was as difficult to get video of as the Loch Ness Monster! She tried everything she could and it just didn't work. The Ball Guy tried once and, well, he got it!

You may have to turn up the volume a bit to get the full effect. Mommy thinks this is the cutest thing, so I often use it to get squeezes and extra treats!




The Ball Guy told Mommy that she tried too hard to get it and that I knew what she was trying to do. Actually, I just liked that he called me Mr. Sam!

Samson
xoxo

Wordless Wednesday

Mancat Monday

My Sharpie Dots

I've received a few comments and compliments about my Sharpie dots on my nose. Mommy used to call them beauty marks but the gorgeous Baby Patches (she has one too!) left a comment about my 'Sharpie' dots and Mommy really liked that. It is not completely unique because I've seen it a lot but Mommy says mine really work for me.



I have one on my nose and one on the cheek below. If you look closely, you'll see that they're joined in my nostril! (Biggify the picture to see into my nostril! Okay, maybe you just wanna take my word for it..)



One interesting bit of trivia is that when Mommy first got me, and was thinking of a perfect name for me, she considered calling me Lemmy after one of her favorite musicians in Motorhead. Apparently he has two dots on his face like me! She said the name didn't stick because Lemmy is not even slightly cute and my dots weren't as pronounced when I was a kitten. Besides, she thought the name Samson would complement Delilah very well.



Sometimes I try to look tough to make Mommy change my name to Lemmy - She says I'm still too cute.



The Ball Guy is an artist and one of the things he paints is pets (of course, Delilah and I are his favorite subjects!). When he painted me, he got the dots perfectly! He is a very talented man.





Samson
xoxo

P.S. Have a great Memorial Day (for my U.S. friends)!