A Tale of Two Kitties

Cats! On the internet! Guys, I think this might turn into a worldwide trend or something.

(Okay, I think I'm funnier than I am. Still, I am talking about cats today.)




This is Tiptoe. She's my mother's cat. My mother would be willing to share her, but Tiptoe is emphatically NOT ON BOARD with that idea.












She did let me pet her in December. I'm pretty sure it was her Christmas gift to me.

This is her usual attitude towards me. That's a pretty extreme zoom. I'm sitting on the far side of the dining room. She's hiding in the hallway by our laundry room. The entire length of the kitchen is between us.





She's not doing well. The vet thinks it's either wet-form FIP (from her symptoms) or congestive heart failure (from blood enzyme levels 15 times the "normal" count). Or possibly both. At this point, the only thing weighing against the FIP diagnosis is that she's still alive. She's a tough kitty.

She originally came into our lives when she wandered up to my mom on our front porch. She was wearing a collar with a rabies tag on it, so my mom brought her in, thinking that we'd track down her people for her.

Turns out the rabies tag was 11 years old (Tiptoe was only about 3 at the time), and for a DOG. While we did originally call her Spare, in a completely vain attempt to prevent my mom from getting too attached, she stuck around. We decided that Spare was a bit unkind, so she was rechristened Tiptoe. She and Lilac (our other cat) (who was here FIRST) (Lilac insists on the second parenthetical), tolerate each other. They are not friends. In fact, Lilac is usually a bit of a brat to Tiptoe. My mother is refusing to acknowledge how ill Tiptoe is, but I think the fact that Lilac hasn't pestered Tiptoe at all in over a week kind of says it all.

The second kitty from the title is Seamus. He's my sister's new cat. Well, new-to-her, as he's about 3 years old and was adopted from Hinsdale Humane Society (where we also got Licorice, my late dog, back in 1983). If you're looking for a pet in the Chicagoland area, they're pretty awesome.

Anyway, this is Seamus. He's much more friendly than either of our cats.












No, seriously. MUCH more friendly. This was the first time he met me, when we were at my sister's house to (belatedly) celebrate her birthday. Which is Seamus' birthday too! They're clearly meant to be.






SO. MUCH. More Friendly. Okay, it's not the most flattering pose for either of us, but spontaneous chin-rubs from a kitty! That hasn't happened to me in years and years. Later that evening he fell asleep in my arms. I could tell because his purring got softer and softer until it finally stopped.



I haven't had contact with an actually FRIENDLY cat in so long that I was practically giddy, and that lasted for hours after we left Seamus. Oh yeah, and my sister. Sorry sis! You're definitely ranking second to your cat at the moment.

In non-feline news, I'm still fundraising for Concern Worldwide through the Live Below the Line challenge. And I'm hanging onto 98th place on the Top 100 Leaderboard for US fundraising. That's good and bad. I mean, it's awesome to be on the leaderboard! But I've only raised $75 so far. And although that's way ahead of my fundraising at this point last year, it's still a little disheartening to think that there are only 97 people in the US who've raised more. It's better than when I was in the top 30 though. I was up there for over a week.

If you'd like to bump me up the leaderboard, you can sponsor me here. My friend Deen is also doing the challenge, and her page is here. She's way ahead of me though: she's #67!

It's That Time Again

Who remembers this photo?

That's right, it's time for me to start fundraising for Live Below the Line again. In case you've forgotten since last year, LBTL is a global challenge where participants commit to spending only $1.50 per day on food for a five day period. I'll be joining most of the US participants from April 27 to May 1.

Live Below the Line is dedicated to raising awareness of global poverty and to raising money for charities that fight it. The reasoning behind the $1.50 per day is that about 1.2 billion (that's BILLION) people in the world live in extreme poverty, and extreme poverty is defined as living on $1.50 per day or less. To make it more manageable for participants, we only have to limit our food and drink budget to $1.50. We don't have to include shelter, transportation, medical care, schooling, clothing, and everything else in that amount. Whew!

This year I am raising money for Concern Worldwide (US). This is a charity that was started in Ireland in 1968. It was born out of the same conflict in Biafur that triggered the beginning of Medicens Sans Frontieres/Doctors Without Borders. Concern Worldwide helps over 6.5 million people in 27 of the world's poorest countries. They provide emergency aid, nutrition assistance, safe water, education, help for people with HIV/AIDS, and skills training and the like to enable people to become independent and support themselves. If you'd like more detailed information, check out their program page.

Concern Worldwide (US) also has 4 stars on Charity Navigator, with a 95.92 overall rating (out of 100). That's the highest rating I've ever seen on that site (although I don't pretend to have looked through every single charity they rate).

So who's with me? You can sponsor me HERE. My good friend Deen is also taking the challenge, and her page is here. She's already raised more money than me though. You should sponsor me first. >_>

If you really want to help, take the challenge yourself! I'd be happy to share tips from last year's experience. I'm definitely doing things differently this year.