The Latest News on Milo Piddlewhiskers

Here's a 'teen' pic of Milo Piddlewhiskers.  He was the first of 3 kittens born December 7th and is the handsomest young fellow.  His eyes are turning more golden each day, like his parents.  They are pictured at the link above, so you can see that Milo takes after his father, Route 66 King Arthur of Piddlewhiskers & Snugglesworth.
Milo is a blue Selkirk Rex.  Blue is the name of his color, and Selkirk Rex is his breed.  When parents like his have kittens, about half are curly and about half are straight-haired like a normal cat.  So in developing the curly breed we say he is a "Nonstandard".  However, he is definitely a Selkirk Rex, even though he looks almost exactly like a British Shorthair except his tail is a bit long and his shape is just slightly less cobby.  He's going to be beautiful-- with his father's sleek thick light colored fur and his mother's intelligence. 

Milo is the guy who always comes to peep into the dishwasher when I'm putting up the dishes.  He has a fascination with that dishwasher and sort of listens to it run.  He lets me bathe him gently.  We sometimes find him sleeping on the foot of the bed when we wake up in the morning.  And he to my office to explore and be petted.  Occasionally, he wants to see some place he cannot reach-- the bathroom dressing table, inside the shower stall where Gracie and Arthur's 'big cat' litter box is, etc.  I help him out in getting to places that one day he will eventually be able to reach on his own.  He's a little bit shy and hides when company comes over.  He loves to play around my quilting area and tussles around in the quilting strips or watches the sewing machine intently.

We'd like to get to know someone who would like to have Milo as a permanent family member, an indoor cat who will be neutered and current on his shots when he comes to you.  If you ever decide you cannot keep him, then we would like to have him back because we want him to have a great life.  He's so precious, sweet and cuddly. 

If he takes after the Brit side of the family, he'll be an aloof  king of the house, presiding over everyone and everything, calling the shots and letting you know when he will permit you to pet him.  Actually, his father Arthur is a bit more easygoing and approachable, even coming in to remind me when it is bedtime so he can take his post at the foot of the bed until we fall asleep.   Arthur is intrigued by toes.  He wants to lay by them.  He wants to lick them.  And it tickles.  Thus far, Milo has not developed his father's fascination, although Dudley likes toes.

(Our previous Brit, Shadow, was a bit of a curmudgeon in his elder years and would whip his tail around spatting in displeasure--- either just for fun or if he was offended because the water bowl was not quite fresh enough.  Any number of things would merit his indignation.  But it led to running a tight ship just as he liked it around here.)

Milo is named after my great-great uncle Milo Johnson, who had a brother named Dudley also.  But we've held off on registering the litter so his new family can give him a different name if they prefer.  His champion bloodlines on both sides of the family are just amazing, and he has some famous ancestors.  He is of course trained to use the litterbox, current on his shots and will come to you disease-free and neutered.  We would like to find a family for him who is settled down and can make a committment to a pet for 15 years, and we'd be especially happy if he could end up in a home with one of his brothers or another cat so they could be companions.  Please contact me at 918-696-3175 if you would be interested in becoming his 'forever' family.

Green Nana Quilt Topper

Green Bed Topper Quilt from Nana's Fabric

Here's the latest small "bed topper" quilt in the series I have been making from fabrics saved from Nana's sewing closet.  When she passed away in February, I brought home a box of her fabrics and have been making quilt tops for her grandchildren.  Gracie Piddlewhiskers is a good helper when I quilt, because she chases the threads and models quilt tops as soon as she sees me laying them out for a view.

Gracie Discovers Mudme

 

It makes a world of difference to be able to create hand-dyed fabrics during the day, when natural light helps with color decisions.  Last week I was preparing  fat quarters for a custom order, and found that I had stockpiled some white cotton squares.  It was news to me.  I'd forgotten that I was prepping them for the dyebath.

When I had leftover chemicals that I didn't want to waste, I made up these great cheery color squares.  They are not sewn together... they are just laid out in a possible pattern for a quilt top.  Buy all 9 for $40 and sew them together yourself as a weekend project.  Or pick out which one you'd like for a quilt focal point, just $4 and mailing costs of $1.75.  Note that these are not fat quarters... they are squares, about 21 inches.

My cute lil model is Gracie Piddlewhiskers, our Selkirk Rex female teenager cat and art muse.  She's always nearby to help with art projects.  Your squares will be again prewashed before mailing, so you don't have to worry about allergies.

Look for these squares at Island Retreat or via Oklahoma Food Cooperative, or email me about purchasing.

Gracie Kisses The Camera

Don't ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.   

~ Howard Thurman

 Gracie Kisses the Camera

Gracie Piddlewhiskers

from Lyricurls Cattery 

Meet Gracie.  She's a Selkirk Rex.  Here she just kissed the camera with her nose.  She's very sweet and affectionate.  She comes to us from Lyricurls Cattery.  She has one sister, Daphne, who is just darling and is ready to get a home.  Special thanks to Delaina Jones for letting us become Gracie's humans.  Lyricurls also has a long-haired cute black and white kitten available.

Why Animals Matter

Leader of the Pack and dog whisperer Ceasar Milan, has a wealth of understanding about dog psychology, some of which also applies to humans.  Why do we have pets?  They give unconditional love and give our lives a predictable routine and rhythm. 

But the pet world is a frontier of uncertainty evocative of the orphans in Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist.  Sometimes, we think of pets as not as good as humans.  Pets are not always respected.

There’s much to learn about ourselves from the nature of animals.  They make a fascinating study in group dynamics.  We can gain insights about our own emotions and cognitive functions, from those of other species.  Lakota people say “All my relations” as a way of describing knowing their place in what Elton John sang reference-to as The Circle of Life.  As humans we fit into a system of life, and the Bible says we are the stewards.  Noah was a steward in that first story about species preservation at God’s request.  Dominion and control over the natural world is sort of a technical job.  Its not just the ability to think of ways to keep a goat in the corral or a dog inside the fence—though it seems to be a great gift that we’re the most capable thinkers of all species (at least in some respects).  It is almost as if we have this intelligence because its our job to take care of the Earth.

There’s a Cherokee story that starts out like this:  “Way long ago, when the animals could talk and we could understand them….”  It reminds me that over the ages we have an ever-changing worldview, and when two ideas seem mutually exclusive then we choose one.  Cherokees didn’t have just a talking serpent.  Animals expressed their own nature and worldview in the things they say in Cherokee stories.  Artist Murv Jacob and storyteller Debbie Duvall understand that each species has its own nature and qualities.  Visit www.jacobandduvall.com ebooks to see.

Advice columnist Dear Abby said, "The best index to a person's character is (a) how he treats people who can't do him any good, and (b) how he treats people who can't fight back."  (I seem to think the original quote was from Golda Maier.)  Expand that principle to all creatures, and we can understand a metaphor for how valuable we are to the planet.

We can get through life without tuning into the connection with other creatures.  But we can be enriched from what we learn observing them, and we can better understand ourselves as sentient beings.  It helps us find our place in the scheme of things, while making the world a better place.

You’ve seen Sara McLachlan’s astounding commercial for humane treatment of animals.  Visit www.HumaneCherokeeCounty.org and you will be compelled by the complete little simple souls who are wishing for a human they can count on.  Its not that hard to have a pet, if you dedicate some time each day for your routine. 

There are also dozens of other ways to connect with the animal world.  Be a foster parent, by volunteering to help with exercise walks or feeding.  Recycle aluminum cans at Wal-mart parking lot, to help with costs.  

(This was submitted for publication in the past to The Current.  It is written by me, Kathy Tibbits.)