Cuteness Overload #SundaySelfie

We're joining our friends at The Cat on My Head for the Sunday Selfies blog hop! 

Caturday Art

Visit more artsy kitties at Athena's Caturday Art blog hop!

And now our weekly answers for the Friendly Fill-Ins challenge, hosted by 15andmeowing and Four-Legged Furballs!

1. My yard is ready for winter because I worked outside most of the day today.

2. I stopped sending hardly anything in the mail because the price of stamps is ridiculous.

3. I'm less than a mile away from where Ted Bundy was born. 

4. Anytime there's water in the basement is the scariest experience I've ever had in my own home.

Merry Merry Merry Murder by Paty Jager - Blog Tour with Character Guest Post and Giveaway

In the close-knit town of Auburn, Oregon, Andi Clark’s therapy animals bring comfort to the community, especially during the holiday season. When a young girl seeks solace from Athena, Andi's therapy dog, after witnessing an unsettling scene behind the sleigh, it marks the beginning of a much darker holiday.

As the town gathers for the Tree Lighting Ceremony, a scream shatters the festive atmosphere. Cocoa, Andi’s loyal Border Collie, pulls her toward a chilling sight: a woman standing over the lifeless body of the girl's mother, strangled with Christmas lights.

Determined to help the grieving girl and her town recover from the shock, Andi, her therapy animals, and her niece, a county deputy, take it upon themselves to investigate. As they uncover secrets and untangle clues, they stay one step ahead of the new sheriff and worry that the killer lurking in their midst could be someone they know. 

Purchase Link

Character Guest Post - Meet Cupcake

Hellooooo! I’m Cupcake, Andi’s pygmy goat. I love to jump on things, dance, and have a good time. I have trouble standing still. But I love when people call me cute and kids pet me. I do my best to stand still then because I don’t want to hurt anyone.

My best days are when we all load up in the Cuddle Farm van and head to a school or Andi sets up a petting zoo. I get all kinds of hugs and pets. When I say we, I mean Andi, of course, she has to drive us there and load and unload us pets.

There is also Cocoa, a brown and white border collie. She is soooo smart! She helps Andi do lots of things, but she also helps Andi when she starts to have a panic attack. She didn’t have those until after her husband died. I think losing him so quickly when they were having a fun vacation kind of shook her up. Afterall, they had been hopping from country to country solving crimes for governments and if he had died then, she would have been prepared for it. But out of the blue… wham! It hit her hard and she struggles sometimes with knowing that life can be gone in a second.

Next in line in the dogs, is Athena. She’s smart too, but not as smart as Cocoa. She’s loveable and will let me curl up with her if I’m cold. She’s a Great Pyrenees/Golden retriever mix and loves to take care of animals and people. She is kind and only growls if someone is doing something wrong.

The littlest dog, and the one I like to play with, is Lulu. She’s a chiweenie. You know, a dachshund and chihuahua cross. She has the long ears, body, and tail of a dachshund and the longer legs and shorter snout of a chihuahua which makes her fun to play with. She runs, jumps, and zooms around like I do! She has a happy attitude but can get scared easily and will shiver or hide.

I have my pen in the barn next to Sparky. He’s a miniature donkey who likes to steal things. Not just little things either! I saw him dragging a sheep water trough across the field one day. He’d taken it from the sheep pasture. Andi couldn’t figure out how it ended up in his stall in the barn.

The two animals that I haven’t really bonded with are Flopsie, the dwarf Holland Lop bunny. She’s quiet and hangs out in the bunny hutches with her friends. When we all go to events, she is let loose in the small pen Andi sets up and the kids like to chase Flopsie, pick her up, and pet her.

The other creature, because that is what she looks like- a creature, is Chicklet. She’s a silky hen, but she doesn’t look silky to me! She looks like someone didn’t put her feathers on correctly! The feathers on the top of her head and on her legs above her feet stick out like they are full of electricity. And her feathers cover her eyes. You’d think she’d run into things! But she is always the one who finds the good stuff when we are out in the farmyard. She stays in the chicken coop with five of her friends.

The last time we all went somewhere together was the Christmas Festival. We were a petting zoo for the people coming to the event. It was fun! I especially liked when a little girl named, Ava, talked to Athena and told her something she saw. That caused Andi to get involved in a murder investigation.

I hope that one of these days, I can help Andi solve a crime, just like Athena, Cocoa, and Lulu did. Athena and Cocoa even saved Andi from the killer! That makes them heroes!

I hope you enjoyed getting to know me and my friends. Pick up the book Merry Merry Merry Murder and read how we solve a murder.

About the Author: 

Paty Jager is an award-winning author of murder mysteries, western romance, and action-adventure. All her work has Western or Native American elements in them along with hints of humor and engaging characters. Riding horses and battling rattlesnakes in eastern Oregon, she not only writes the western lifestyle, she lives it.

Author Links:

Website: https://www.patyjager.net
Blog: https://writingintothesunset.net/
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Paty-Jager/e/B002I7M0VK
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/patyjag/
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1005334.Paty_Jager
Newsletter- Mystery: https://bit.ly/2IhmWcm
Bookbub – https://www.bookbub.com/authors/paty-jager
Instagram –Paty Jager (@patymjager) • Instagram photos and videos
TikTok – https://www.tiktok.com/@authorpatyjager

Unboxing September's CatLadyBox

The theme of September's CatLadyBox was Feline Fall...here's what was inside!

Caturday Lounge Crew:

I always love finding a sweatshirt in my box. This one is super warm and cozy.

"Cat Lady Crossing" Metal Sign:

This was immediately hung over my bedroom door!

Silhouette Cat Ring:

This little ring is just darling! It fit my small fingers purrfectly.

Scrappy Scarecrow & Cornelious Cobb Catnip Toys:

Both of these toys are SO cute. My mom was a doll collector and especially loved primitives, so I have a feeling if she was still here Mudpie's scarecrow doll/toy would've been snatched away!

 Not a subscriber yet? Visit CatLadyBox today!

Interested in purchasing individual items from past boxes? You can do that too!

Disclosure: I receive a discount on my CatLadyBox subscription as a thank you for my monthly review. Regardless of compensation received, we only share information we feel is relevant to our readers.

Airplane Ears #SundaySelfie

We're joining our friends at The Cat on My Head for the Sunday Selfies blog hop!   

Star Light, Star Bright #CaturdayArt

Visit more artsy kitties at Athena's Caturday Art blog hop!

And now our weekly answers for the Friendly Fill-Ins challenge, hosted by 15andmeowing and Four-Legged Furballs!

1. My plans for October include yard cleanup and watching lots of Halloween movies and TV shows.

2. Sometimes it is easier to bite your tongue than say what's really on your mind.

3. I didn't mean to get lost in my own city, but it turned out that way. It happened while I was trying to find the funeral home that was arranging Mo's cremation, and was very embarrassing. 

4. I'd rather deal with a haunted event than a haunted house. At least we know the fun Halloween events are fake!

Mo is Home

Meows from Mudpie! 

Our sweet Mo is back home. We always considered this his home, in his final days we came to realize that he considered it his home too, and now he will have a home with us forever.

Mommy picked out the orange cat urn for him the week before he passed. She knew it was the perfect choice for him. The clear keepsake box underneath contains his clay paw print and tufts of fur that the vet gave us.

The orange stuffie is a Halloween decoration Mommy picked up at Target back in August. She's obsessed with cat ghosts and had never seen an orange one before (they're most always black). It made her smile because Mo loved catching (and eating) mice, so this is our little "Mo ghost". Mommy says it will always be a part of our Mo memorial.

Welcome home, Mo. You're inside with us now where we always wanted you to be.

Slurp, Slurp

 

Have You Missed Me? #SundaySelfie

Meows from Mudpie! 

Since you haven't seen me ALL week I thought I'd treat you to an extreme closeup for my Sunday Selfie :) 

We're joining our friends at The Cat on My Head for the Sunday Selfies blog hop!   

Treasured Forever #CaturdayArt

Meows from Mudpie!

Thank you all so much for the beautiful comments yesterday on our memorial post for Mo. A lot of tears have been shed at our house over the past week. 

Next week Mommy will be picking up his ashes and we have a memorial spot picked out for him so he can live in our home always. 

We also wanted to thank Ingrid, Benji and Dalton from Meezer's Mews & Terrieristical Woofs for this darling memorial graphic. Mo will indeed be treasured forever.

Good Night, Sweet Prince

Good night, sweet prince, 

And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.

--William Shakespeare

I wish I could remember exactly when Mo came into my life. It was well before I adopted Mudpie in 2015, so I'm guessing it was 12 or 13 years ago, and he was already an adult cat.

What I do remember is when he first started showing up I was feeding a neighbor kitty named Milo. Mo would hide under my father's truck up the driveway watching Milo eat on the back step, then come down and clean up whatever Milo left. Milo hated Mo and was constantly trying to bully Mo, but Mo was never a fighter. He would always back down. I would wait until Milo went on his way and then make sure Mo had a pile of food all his own. Eventually Milo got sick and passed away, and Mo had our yard all to himself. I always thought if he didn't have to compete with other cats for food he might eventually decide to trust me, but that never happened.

For many years I was actually under the assumption that Mo had a home. He always appeared around dinnertime like his family might've come home from work and let him out. You would never see him in daylight, he always waited until after dark to come around.

June 2024

It wasn't until the last few years that I realized he wasn't just skittish around people, he was completely feral, and he didn't have a home. But during that time he also started getting braver, venturing out in the daytime, lounging in the sun in my driveway and yard. Still, I was never allowed to get too close. I was expected to drop his meal on the step and close the door. Only then would he come down to eat. 

Winters were the hardest. Anytime we would have a big storm I would make sure to shovel pathways for him, but he often just wouldn't come around in the immediate aftermath of a storm. Sometimes I would go two or three days without seeing him and of course I would be worried sick. 

Last year I was relieved to discover he was going into my metal shed in the back yard. It's very old and there's a hole at the bottom leading inside, and he found it! At first I just saw paw prints going inside so I had no idea who they belonged to, but eventually I saw that it was him going in. I took a large Chewy box, filled it with straw and a fleece blanket and put it in the shed for him. At least with winter coming I knew he had good shelter during the worst weather.

Mo's paw print in the snow, Winter 2024

As an aside, my constant state of worry for him led to the most hysterical dreams. One night I dreamed that he was using a skateboard to get away from me faster, and another night I dreamed that he arrived at my doorstep pregnant! He came into the house and when his litter arrived they were piglets! That little guy completely worked his way into my head and my heart.

I always knew the time would come when his health would start to fail and there wouldn't be anything I could do to help him. That time came in mid-February. We had our one big storm of the season, and he disappeared...for a couple weeks. I started worrying he had gotten trapped in someone's outbuilding so I posted on a neighborhood forum asking everyone to keep an eye out for him. Finally he starting coming around again, but he wasn't himself. He was only coming once a day to eat and then disappearing. He lost a lot of weight. 

In mid-March I received an email from a neighbor one street over saying that Mo had spent a lot of time in their yard over the years, sleeping under their deck. On that particular Saturday afternoon they had seen him crawling into a storm pipe appearing to have difficulty walking. I went over immediately but he couldn't be found. The next afternoon he was back in my yard, looking absolutely filthy (for an outdoor cat he always took meticulous care of himself), making a beeline for the shed. I never found out what happened to him that weekend. 

Thankfully as the weather improved, so did he. As the spring progressed though I noticed him drinking from rain puddles (something he had never done) and peeing a lot in the yard. There would be a wet spot every now and then on the blacktop where his bottom had been. As a senior male kitty, I knew this meant his kidneys were failing.

August 2025

He had such a wonderful summer though. It was hot and dry and he spent every day sunbathing in my yard and in my neighbor's garden. He even felt good enough to chase mice and chowed down on a couple while I was watching! He was so proud of himself. Dad and I marveled over how well he was doing, wondering if we might be blessed with another winter worrying about him. 

Then as September began he started to go downhill again, only coming around once per day for a small snack and then disappearing. Some days he would visit and not eat anything at all. Very quickly he became thin and frail. It was obvious he wasn't going to bounce back this time. 

By last week he started sniffing my fingers when I put my hand out the door and I was even allowed to gently stroke his forehead, but if I stepped outside to try and get closer to him he would still run.

On Friday I noticed his back legs were covered in urine and flies were buzzing around him. I opened the back door...and he walked halfway in! Sadly Mudpie immediately began hissing and growling and he ran back out. He needed help, but he was still too wary to be trapped. Helpless doesn't begin to describe how I felt. I knew the poor little guy was going to keep running until he couldn't run any longer. 

Saturday he filled his tummy with rotisserie chicken, then took off across the road into a neighbor's back yard. I was happy that he still wanted to roam around and patrol his territory. It ended up being his last great adventure.

August 2025

Sunday morning he arrived at my doorstep so completely exhausted that he laid down on top of his chicken while he was eating. I sat on the step beside him where he allowed me to pet him and kiss him on the forehead three times. He was even purring.

When he got up he was stumbling as he walked and I noticed a horrific gaping wound on his inner leg. I tried coaxing him into Mudpie's carrier and a box but he took off across the lawn. Later that afternoon I found him lying on the grass by the road, cars whizzing by him! In a panic I grabbed him, but he slipped my grasp and went stumbling into my neighbor's garden. Again I lost track of him. All evening I went out every hour with a flashlight trying to find him to no avail.

I don't know where he spent Sunday night, but Monday morning he somehow made his way back to me even though he could barely walk. My brave, sweet boy practically collapsed in the driveway, and I knew we were at the end of the road. I placed him in a box with blankets and told him what an honor it had been to take care of him all those years. He kept reaching his paw out for me like he didn't want me to leave him. I promised I would stay with him until the end, and he would remain with me always.

9/29/25 11:20 AM

I was able to make an appointment for 12:45 to end his suffering, and his heart stopped at 1:12. Everyone at the vet's office said he was the sweetest boy. He purred the entire time they were inserting the IV. In my nearly 50 years of living with cats this was the first time I've witnessed a euthanasia, and it was so peaceful. 

My greatest fear was that one day he would just disappear, and I would never know what happened to him. At hard as it was to let him go, it was such a relief that I could give him that final gift and he didn't die alone. Even though he didn't want to live inside my house, he still considered this his home, and he loved me enough to want to be with me at the end.

In his last moments I told Mo to look for my Mom when he got to the Rainbow Bridge. I know she's taking care of him for me now. 

On Monday evening a neighbor emailed me saying, "You gave him the best life he would allow." Her words were a tremendous comfort, but my heart still breaks when I think about all the things he never had. 

The vet wrapped Mo's remains so beautifully, 

and provided me with a clay paw print and tufts of his fur.

I'll love you forever, Mo.

9/29/25

Mo Needs Purrs & Prayers

Meows from Mudpie :(

Mommy will write all about it later, but today we're requesting purrs and prayers for our feral boy Mo.

He has deteriorated significantly over the past few weeks, and he'll most likely be going to the Rainbow Bridge this week. 

Mommy has spent the weekend trying to bring him into the house for his last days but so far it hasn't worked. She fears he's going to pass away outside all alone and that she won't be able to find him.

Mommy's heart is breaking. She just wants him to have a peaceful passing, surrounded by her love. 

Pardon the Crumbs #SundaySelfie

I just had a snack :) 

We're joining our friends at The Cat on My Head for the Sunday Selfies blog hop!    

Feeling Wistful #CaturdayArt

Visit more artsy kitties at Athena's Caturday Art blog hop!

And now our weekly answers for the Friendly Fill-Ins challenge, hosted by 15andmeowing and Four-Legged Furballs!

1. I will never eat blood sausage again.

2. I would like a taste of anything peppermint. It won't be long now!

3. I'm oddly fascinated by all things spooky. Hence my love for Halloween!

4. It would probably be wise if I stopped shopping while I'm constantly trying to declutter, but I instead go crazy every Halloween and Christmas.

'Scuse Me, Coming Through #PetPhotoFails

Meows from Mudpie!

Thank you for joining us for this month's edition of the Pet Photo Fails Blog Hop! It's so hard to believe we're already at the end of September. If only the yucky summer months flew by as fast as the fall months!

My blooper this month was taken while Mommy was trying to help me take a selfie. Obviously I had very important Mudpie stuff to do elsewhere!

 

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Fun Feline Finds for Halloween from Etsy

Meows from Mudpie!

Mommy started to decorate for Halloween this week! Even though she already has more than she could ever use she's always looking for more, and one of her favorite places to shop for Halloween goodies is Etsy. There are so many creative people out there creating pawsome kitty items, and we thought we'd share some of our favorite finds (for both humans and cats) with you today!

Ghost Cat Halloween Yard Decor

Garden Flag

Black Cat and Ghost Doormat

Poster

Black Cat Candy Company Retro Sign

Crochet Ghost Cat

Shirt

Wooden Door Hanger

Felt Catnip Toys

Catnip Tarot Cards

Pillow

Bath Towel

We hope you enjoy our Halloween picks, and don't forget, if you find something here you like and make a purchase using our affiliate links, I get a little money for my piggy bank!

Back On My Squeezie Table #SundaySelfie

Meows from Mudpie!

I snapped my selfie this week on the table next to the couch where I wait for extra squeezies. Here's my trick - I snuggle on the couch with Mommy for awhile, then hop on up to the table because I know I can stare at her and con her out of extra treats up there! (I don't get on the table during the summer because the fan blows on me and I don't like that.)

PS - Now that I'm older and heavier Mommy doesn't like it when I jump off the table (she's afraid I'm going to break a leg) and tries to stay nearby to help me get down. Last night she was busy in the kitchen and I was tired of waiting for her so I jumped down by myself. No problemo! 

We're joining our friends at The Cat on My Head for the Sunday Selfies blog hop!