Happy September Furiends!

Boy are we happy in our neck of the woods! The heat is gone and soon our beautiful fall colors will appear. Pretty soon it will be “cuddle by the fire” time! I hope you like our new fall logo photo.

This week we’re featuring Oliver because now that he’s back to good health (and the owner of that pound he lost) he’s gotten his catitude back and I thought it would be a good time to share with you what Lily, The Human and I have to deal with.

And later that night……..

And there you have it, the incessant appetite of Oliver and those who suffer because of it.

Home Depot in New Jersey gains attention because of Leo the cat

Ah, how I love feline career success stories. Leo, a formal feral is now not only an employee of the Mt. Laurel, NJ Home Depot, he’s a social media celebrity too. Leo came to handle the rodent population but I think he should be named marketing director as his story and his presence has brought many new customers to the store.

Leo’s first foray into media garnered 4.5 million views (yes, cats are still the kings and queens of social media!) What makes Leo so special you ask? Well, his purrsonality is great and he wears clothes and some customers make the trip to Leo’s place of work just to see him.

A professional and a media star, Leo, you’ve hit the jackpot!

Missing cat returned to family after vanishing three years ago

I love, love happy endings and this story has a  purrfect ending.  Hayley Dale took a trip to Melbourne in 2020 and when she came back home she was devastated to hear that her white cat Chloe was missing. Hayley told ABC Australia that her autistic son was bereft when they came home and his first ever pet was missing he was too young to understand what was going on and when  Chloe, who had previously “escaped” but didn’t return his heart was broken.  He family did what all humans do when they lose their feline friends, put up flyers, posted on social media and checking with the local shelter.

After two years, the family had to accept that Chloe might be deceased and then a week ago, the family was notified that Chloe had been found over the border in southern New South Wales about 12 KM (about 7.5 miles) away from her home.  Someone found Chloe, took her to the local vet who happened to know Chloe and her family. The family was skeptical at first but their hearts were happy to find that it was indeed Chloe.  The son cried all the  way home, holding Chloe in his arms. Chloe was a little worse for the wear but her humans said she’s eating well and recovering.

This reminds me to remind you all of my favorite saying, when you find a cat, THINK LOST NOT STRAY!

Cat Video Fest brings hilarious internet clips to the big screen

The Wall Street Journal declared in a headline in 2017 that watching silly cat videos is good for you. “and apparently this trend continues because in the first eight months of 2022, more than 18 million feline-related videos were uploaded to YouTube, attracting over a billion viewers who delight in our wonderful feline antics.

Cat have long dominated the internet and the hobby of filming the antics of fabulous felines has become an international charitable event called the  Cat Video Fest, where some of the internet’s best feline video clips are spliced together and shown on the big screen to raise money for local animal shelters.

“CatVideoFest has been seen in over 200 theaters in the United States and Canada, as well as over 100 theaters in Europe,” according to the event’s website. Check the website to see when the Cat Video Fest is being shown in your neck of the woods.

What better way is there for you to spend your time than by watching wonderful felines and helping to fund your local shelter?

Cats and cannons collide at Gettysburg’s feline-themed Civil War museum

Okay, I have to confess that the headline got me. The Gettysburg’s Civil War Tails at the Homestead Diorama Museum has diorama’s of felines fighting in the Civil War. The museum features painstakingly detailed miniature scenes that portray pivotal battle moments using handmade clay cat figurines — 8,000 of them and counting.

Rebecca and Ruth Brown, the twin sister co-owners of Civil War Tails, have visitors intently studying their dioramas to find quotes, facts, and items within the scene at the Civil War Tails yearly scavenger hunt.  “We try to make it a mix so that kids and non-history-buffs can do it, but it’s not too easy for history buffs!” said Rebecca.

The Browns opened their museum in 2015, and the labor of love dates back to the sisters’ childhood in suburban Philadelphia, where the home-schooled 11-year-olds first became captivated by Civil War books. “I read biographies on generals Lee and Grant,” said the 39-year-old Rebecca. “And since I liked them, I made them out of clay.”

Why cats you ask? Well why not I say. Rebecca said that cats were just easier to sculpt than people. “We’ve always had cats as pets. Everything we did was cats,” she said. “So when I made Lee and Grant, they just automatically came out as cats.” A hobby was born, and both sisters began making hordes of feline soldiers. In high school, they used their figurines to teach other home-schooled kids about the Civil War.

The Browns currently have close to a dozen dioramas on display. Each consists of a landscape reproducing a Civil War moment, with buildings and nature elements to scale, and one 1-inch-tall cat for each soldier. In addition to the full tableaus, there are also smaller scenes and older figures on view. Their biggest project depicts the Little Round Top battle on the second day of the fighting at Gettysburg, and is 10 years in the making.

The moment enacted in the 11-foot-long diorama, Rebecca told PA Local, is a dramatic one. It takes place “just after the arrival of the 140th New York. Companies A & G have followed Col. O’Rorke’s call, ‘Down this way, boys!’ and have come into line on the right of Col. Vincent’s brigade. The other eight companies are still on the crest; soon, they will left-oblique down the slope to join A & G, but by then the fighting will be mostly over. Meanwhile, on the left of Vincent’s brigade, the 20th Maine is beginning their bayonet charge. The left wing of the regiment is swinging forward.”

Right now, there are 2,000 “cavalrycats” in this scene; each cat takes 10-15 minutes to make. The sisters continue to update the diorama while it’s on display.

Ruth works as a lawyer, while Rebecca runs the museum. The Homestead, a 6,500-square foot Civil War-era house that was originally a dormitory for a girls’ orphanage, is also their home; they live upstairs, and the dioramas are exhibited on the first floor.

“The original building, just north of us, was here during the battles,” Rebecca told PA Local. “And then our house was built in 1869 to expand it.”

Living in Gettysburg is a dream come true for Rebecca, whose favorite landmark is The Angle battlefield. “It’s really cool to be able to just walk down there and hang out,” she said. “Or to just go down to Little Round Top when I need photos of rocks.”

The Homestead has many battalions of clay cats, but only two live ones, Kenzie and Aubrey.

The two-year-old siblings mostly stay on the third floor, where they can’t get into kitty shenanigans (Kenzie has a penchant for knocking T-shirts off the merchandise shelves).

Civil War Tails is open every daily except for Wednesdays, Sundays, and first Thursdays. You can find out more at their website, civilwartails.com.

Cat’n around Catskill takes over village

Well duh! If the name of your village is Catskill one would expect felines to be prominent. This year’s Cat’n Around Catskill event will have about 65 cats displayed at different locations around the village.

Visitors can buy raffle tickets for a chance to win the feline of summer painting which was done by Autumn Doney. The auction will take place on September 17.Be sure and check out the video.