Finally!

Finally! Sue has been very slow this year decorating the house for Christmas. We were starting to worry if she's going to do anything at all when last Sunday she and André got the stuff out and put it up. We have to tell you though, they kept it a bit simpler this year. Usually Sue would put up everything she has. Not this year. And we agree: less is more. It looks very festive and nice without cluttering the place. It's our house and we like it to look nice and so we think they did a good job. Fewer decorations but lots of candles and of course our singing penguins. Boy they are just too funny when they're shaking those little bells.

As you can see in the picture they have set up the tree, too. We had to go check it out of course and it smells like our tree and the balls are as much fun to play with as ever. The two only changes there are the tinsels and there are no chocolates on the tree this year. The tinsels used to be gold in colour but this year they are white. Looks like there is snow on our tree and at first we were really concerned. We thought that the roof had leaked and the snow had come in for real! Boy what a relieve to see that it's just decorations! As for the chocolates: they are a tradition in Europe. Small chocolates wrapped in tin that look like pine cones, Santa, bells and other Christmas related themes. Since André doesn't eat them and Sue wants to loose some weight they skipped them. This also goes with the "simpler" thing.

Of course there are no gifts yet and usually André and Sue don't put any under the tree at all anyway. They say they give each other (and us) gifts throughout the year and like to avoid the big rush in all the stores. But this year there will be a little package under the tree for André. We had asked Sue to get him a new key chain for us and rap it up. He had given one of his up and put it in the glove compartment of the car with change for parking in it instead of keeping the change in a cup holder. Sue did as we had asked and the present is ready to go. Now we only need to keep it a secret from André till Christmas. So we count on you not to tell him, ok?

With the tree up and the house decorated, all that's missing is the smell of Sue baking Christmas cookies. She told André that she is going to bake just one kind this year, again since André doesn't eat sweets and she wants to cut back big time. But there is this one kind she just loves too much to pass on them and so she will bake some tomorrow. Somehow the smell of freshly baked cookies is as much part of Christmas as the penguins, the smell of apple and cinnamon and candles, don't you think? And if we get lucky, we'll get to try one too! So we will be really good and hope she will notice and reward us.

With this said, we wish you all a nice week, not too much stress but lots of seasonal spirit.

hunter and trapper

It all is a matter of taste

Hi everybody

No, we don't mean Sue's Christmas decorations are a matter of taste although they are ;-). We are talking food. Well it's getting closer to the holidays when EVERYONE is going to indulge and also: André and Sue are currently on the road - again - and this means that someone else is looking after us. And that, let us tell you, means trouble. In this case food trouble.

Your choice of words really is confusing today, Hunter. Reading this could easily lead one to believe the people taking care of us when André and Sue are away do a bad job. But this is not the case! We love Rosemarie and Pia. They do a great job and always, always give us a lot of treats to make up for our servants unfaithfulness. Just leaving us alone for days on end and putting someone else in charge of taking care of us - it's an No No, guys! Anyway, the trouble usually starts with us. But what do you expect? I mean it gets lonely in the house and so we have to come up with a way to pass the time, right?

That's right as is the word "usually". The story we are about to tell you was not our fault - it was Sue's although it was not something she did - it was something she didn't do. But before we tell you what it was she didn't do let us tell you how events developed: one day André and Sue went away for a few days and asked Pia to look after us until they would be back. Pia, as always, was delighted to do so and came to our house every day to give us water and food, clean our litter box and spoil us with treats. She spent some time keeping us company but having a busy life herself, she could stay only so long and so Trapper and I got bored. We started exploring the house and looking for some new stuff to play with or to eat. And Trapper found something. The next day when Pia returned, she found our water dishes not just empty, they were right out licked dry! This really puzzled her and even made her concerned when Trapper started drinking like he was dying of thirst as soon as she had refilled them. Something was wrong, very wrong!

I WAS dying of thirst! At least that's how I felt. Boy what a nasty feeling and no water to be found anywhere. Good thing Pia had paid attention and started investigating while supplying more water. She knows us and so she looked everywhere, not just the obvious places, for a clue. Her thoroughness paid off: she found the wrapper of a stock cube with some crumbs of the cube still there and that solved the problem. That was what I had eaten. Can you imagine all that concentrated salt?

Pia put the remaining cubes in a save place and made sure Trapper had stopped drinking before she left that day. And ever since, when André and Sue ask her to take care of us, she asks them if the stock cubes are in a place we can't get at them. I mean, I have exquisite taste: I love my coffee in the morning and both Trapper and I don't mind a little piece of bread, dip sauces, cheese, nuts and some other delicacies. But stock cubes?! Only Trapper, my friends, only Trapper would eat something like this! So what didn't Sue do? She didn't put those cubes away.

Till next week when we hope to give you an update on the Christmas decorations

hunter and trapper

O Christmas Tree

Hi everyone

We know it's only three weeks until Christmas and everybody is busy shopping for gifts and everything else needed to make it the best Christmas ever. But there is something Sue wants to bring up. It is a cause close to her heart and so we decided to give her space on our blog to do so: Is a kitten or a puppy a good Christmas gift?

Thanks a lot, guys, I appreciate it.

You probably heard or asked yourself this question before. Christmas time is supposed to be joyful for everyone and I (and I'm sure Hunter and Trapper agree with me) like to include pets in that. Sadly for many animals what starts out as a nice and exciting thing turns out to be all but that. They will end up back at the shelter or even left out in the cold for someone else to care for them a few days or weeks after being given away as a gift. The poor things don't know what hit them: one day they are welcomed as a new member of a family - finally having found a loving home - and the next they are being discarded like a pair of old shoes. This is not fair! Not to the person who received the pet and even less so to the animal.

I think there are a few things one should consider before choosing a cat, a dog or any animal as a Christmas gift.

If you consider giving a pet to an adult (like your mom for example):
- talk to that person first to make sure he or she actually wants an animal
- ask the person what kind of animal they would like or better yet take him or her along when choosing their future best friend

If your kids ask Santa for an animal friend:
- make sure the kid is ready to take responsibility for a pet. You can read in some earlier blogs, that having a pet involves more than just giving it a name
- maybe talk to the child and agree on what's involved and which chores will be his or hers once the pet is there
- if you have doubts about the kid's readiness, maybe put the pet up for next year or a birthday. Give the child some chores for the time until then so he or she can proof that he or she is ready and committed. If you do that it might also help to grade the kid's performance on a weekly basis (together with the kid) and mark it down on a calendar. This way come the birthday or next Christmas there will be no big disagreements on how they did

In any case:
- don't forget to make sure the landlord of the person who gets the animal allows pets
- if not sure which animal you should buy, get help from a specialist (human society, breeder or vet) to find the right one. This is especially important with dogs: choosing the right breed (size, temperament and energy level) is very important
- consider possible lifestyle changes the new pet owner may make in the near future. Will the pet still be welcome or even be allowed (say in a retirement living environment or if the kid goes off to university)?
- can the new pet owner comfortably afford that pet? Food costs and vet bills can put a burden on someone on a tide budget
- what is going to happen to the pet if the new owner can not or no longer take care of it (who is going to take it)?

Once you have decided to go ahead with a pet for a gift, please consider the local humane society (that is where Hunter and Trapper come from) to get your present. They always have cats and dogs in need of a loving home and work hard to place those animals. You can read about them in some earlier blogs.

So if you are considering putting a pet under the Christmas tree for someone or if you know someone who is planning to do that, please take a few minutes to think or talk to that person about it. No living being deserves to be shoved around because it turned out to be a "mistake". If we can prevent this from happening to even one animal, we've done some good.

Thanks Sue, we agree. As much as we wish for every single one of our fury friends out there to find a loving home, when in doubt you might wanna stay away from giving a pet for a gift.

See you all next week

hunter and trapper

Caution: candles!

We don't know what it is but as soon as it gets a bit colder in fall we start seeing some white stuff falling from the skies. André and Sue call it snow. And as soon as that stuff turns up, things start to change in our house, too. André turns the heater on - which is really nice - and also puts candles up everywhere! Soon other items will follow and in a couple of weeks or so a big tree will stand in the living room. It will smell of freshly backed cookies and Sue will turn on those funny penguins singing a Christmas song with a snowman every so often. The whole house will look differently for a few weeks until everything goes back into boxes and disappears until the next year.

Now here is what we think of this phenomenon: we love the heater! It's a pellet stove so it has a real fire inside which looks very nice and also gives up this terrific heat. When it comes on we can lay in front of it bathing in the warm air coming out. Trapper sometimes even jumps on top of the stove and takes a nap right there. It's so cozy. The decorations are fine too. They look a little bit different each year and we don't know if that's because Sue can't remember how she did it the previous year or if she does that on purpose for us. You see, decorations have to be checked out and so we get to walk around the house and find things we can smell or even play with! This, of course, also goes for the ornaments on the tree. Lots of fun grabbing them and then trying to drag them away. We even tried to climb the tree to get to the stuff higher up a couple of times.

The singing penguins are more fun for Sue than for the song. Sure it looks funny when they shake their wings with the little bell attached to them but the real fun is in watching Sue when she waits for us to go after the bells. Which we don't do as long as she's around but only when she is looking the other way. It's like watching a kid waiting for Santa.

All this stuff is not in place just yet this year except for the candles. You see, André and Sue love candles and so there are a tone of them all over the place. They look fine and smell good but they are hazardous to cats! It is very tempting to go look what the thing at the very top is. The one that moves with every breeze of air. But no matter how careful we approach it, we can get in trouble when getting too close. This thing is hot!! It almost burned our noses when we tried to sniff it. André and Sue let us do that in hopes that we would stay away in the future. Learn our lesson, they said. But it's just too intriguing. And sometimes we don't even think about the candles when we move around. Like when Trapper jumped on the tea table and before anyone had a chance to react he felt this heat on his belly and something began to stink: he had jumped right over top of a wooden bar with several tea candles burning and stood there, front legs on one side, hind legs on the other. Or when Hunter sat on the same tea table, back to the candles and swishing his tail over the flames.

Bottom line is: candles are hazardous to cats (and dogs too we assume) so please keep an eye on them and your pet. We sometimes just forget and appreciate you're watching out for us.

We will keep you posted on the situation at our house as the season progresses. Until next week

hunter and trapper

The thing with the water

Last week we told you about the mouse hunting in fall. Well there is something else which is a sure sign of summer being over at our place: it's the time when André and Sue fill up the hot tub and start using it.

As you all know there is a whole lot of water in a hot tub and that is something which has always attracted Trapper even though he would never go in there. At least not on purpose.

You have to know that André and Sue only got the hot tub a few years ago. Before they had it, Sue would take a hot bath almost every evening. Not to wash, she takes a shower every day for that, but because she complained that she was cold. Well, winter does that to you. Anyway, Trapper would always keep her company in the bathroom while she was soaking, reading a book and having a glass of wine. He would sit patiently on the rim of the tub and wait for her to come out again. Nice little fellow, isn't he?

It's true, I used to do that and I loved it. Like Sue I am cold quiet often and it was always nice and warm in the bathroom. Nowadays I jump on the rim of the hut tub but it's not the same anymore. Now, here is the story about me keeping Sue company: after laying on the rim of the tub one evening and casually moving my tail forth and back, I noticed something I had never seen before. It did look a bit like the tip of my tail but not quiet the same at the same time. So when it came up near my head I jumped on it and when I moved it disappeared. Oh! It's still alive! Well, you must know what happened next. Something moves, a cat has the obligation to chase it. So I did. I started turning in circles - on the rim of the tub - and the funny looking thing kept getting away from me. So I turned faster and the thing kept going faster. Meantime the rim of the tub had become wet and then I slipped and fell right into the tub!

Funny guy here didn't recognise the wet tip of his own tail! Geeez. Well he was pretty young and still green at the time so he is excused. All André and I heard that evening was Sue screaming then Trapper meowing miserable. As he just said, he had fallen into the tub and Sue had to rescue him. Being wet and in a panic he could not get any traction to get out on his own so Sue grabed him got out of the tub and then toweled him down as good as she could. He still looked a bit funny when she let him out of the bath room, pretty dry again but somewhat shaggy. But if you think that experience cured him from chasing his tail again while on the rim of the tub, think again. He did it again and he fell in again - not once but twice since!

Now that André and Sue have the hot tub, Sue is not taking baths anymore so the risk of me falling in again has disappeared. The only thing Sue is worried about is that one of these days I will end up in the hot tub. Why? Because I still love keeping her company while she warms up and so I jump on that rim now. And she thinks that maybe one day I will misjudge the jump and end up in the water - again. Sue, don't worry, I am careful. I promise.

There it is, another fall story. See you all next week.

hunter and trapper

Fall time - hunting time

Hi everyone

Yeah, it's fall and that means it's hunting time. No, not what you think. We are talking mice!

As it is with so many houses in the country side, ours is not exactly mouse proof and come fall, the buggers try to get in and set up shop for the cold season ahead. Needless to say that André and Sue don't like that at all - but we do. Hey, we are cats and hunters by nature after all and some extra excitement can't hurt, or can it?

Well there was the one time we almost wrecked part of the house. It started innocent enough: Hunter had caught a mouse in the middle of the night and I wanted to get some playtime with it too. Of course he didn't even think of giving the mouse up to me - catchers keepers (or something like that), you know. I on the other hand didn't think of letting this chance pass me by without having some fun. So I made my intentions known to Hunter by growling at him. He, of course, growled right back and before you know it we were in a fight with each other. This had some unexpected consequences: the mouse got away! And what's worse, it woke André.

Yeah, I remember it. When André got up to see what was going on, it woke Sue, too. And then all hell broke loose! We were fighting and André came after us to break us up. Meantime the mouse made it into the bedroom where Sue, still halfway asleep, saw it running under the bed. She screamed and - instantly wide awake - jumped out of bed. But she didn't stay there for long. She quickly realised that she was now standing at the same level with the mouse which could come running at her at any time and so she jumped onto the bed.

By now we had taken off after the mouse followed by André who still tried to catch either one of us. Fat chance! You try to get into the way of not one but two cats determined to catch a mouse, you become the "enemy". Since Hunter was a bit slower than I, André caught up with him and grabbed him. Hunter did not exactly agree with that and bit André who in turn let go of him. While this happened I was under the bed and the next moment we're all on our way back to the living room: first the mouse, than I, than Hunter who jumped on me when I ran by. Taking up the rear came André who promptly stumbled over us and almost took the glass unit with about 200 CDs in it down in the process. Sue was still on the bed, screaming at André to do something.

The mouse ran behind a piece of furniture and Trapper and I took up positions on either side to catch it as soon as it tried to come out. Now André got hold of a broom in the sitting room which Sue had left there for now obvious reason (unless she expected something like this to happen, which we doubt) and turned around just as the mouse made a run for it. Trapper jumped on the mouse and grabbed it and this triggered a new fight since this was my mouse and I wanted it back. Again the mouse got away and not knowing what to do first, separate us or catching the little pest, André turned first one way than the other knocking some stuff off the nearby furniture with the handle of the broom. The chase kept going for several more minutes during which we lost and recaptured the mouse a couple more times and a flower pot, a box of tissues and some other stuff went flying.

We finally got the mouse but André took it from us which almost got us into yet another fight. But this time we just growled at each other and then Sue separated us - now that André had the mouse under control she finally dared coming out - and the dust settled. We calmed down during the time it took André and Sue to clean up the mess and by the time they went back to sleep we were friends again.

Yep, this was exciting. We've caught some more mice since but never again did it go like this.

See you around next week - who knows, maybe by then we have another hunting story for you.

hunter and trapper

Nice touch

Hi fans

Here we are with this weeks story. Actually it is not the story we wanted to tell you this week - we will tell you that one some other time if you don't mind.

You might be wondering what's going on her? Well, here is what happened: I call a meeting with my buddy Trapper here to get this weeks blog ready for Sue to type. But boy, was I in for a surprise. This guy shows up smelling like a perfumery!

Yeah, I know. But it is a nice smell - just a bit intense for our sensitive noses. I still don't know how this happened. Earlier today I went to the bathroom (Andre's and Sue's) to check if the water was on in the tub. Just wanted to have a drink, you know. The tab was off but it's nice and warm in there so I decided to stay a while and check things out. All of a sudden there was this sound: pffff and a cloud of nice smelling stuff hit me.

Anyway. We tried to figure out how Trapper got to smell like this and found that there really is just one possible explanation: Sue had put a Glad air freshener with a motion detector in the bathroom and Trapper must have gotten too close to it and activated it! We just can't think of any other way this could have happened. How long will that last, you think?

I have no idea and I can't get used to the smell myself. I keep wrinkling my nose and sure hope it will wear off quickly. Meantime I guess we call it a week as far as the blog is concerned. I mean who can think smelling like me - it's so distracting.

I agree. Gee, buddy, move over and give me some air! Go take a bath ... oh yeah, you don't like water any more than I do. Tell you something: you will be sleeping in another room than I tonight!

See you all next week.

hunter and trapper