This Cats on Tuesday is sort of a few hours late getting posted. I'll blame it on the holiday...
For more fun stories and pictures about cats and their antics...visit Cats on Tuesday host...Gattina
Mike the Mysterious aka Mike the World Traveler
Episode 4: Visit to Sweden
Mike here:
Well, this is Christmas Day and I've commandeered my caretaker's computer to write about my visit to Skane, Sweden that took place over a month ago. I left Oregon with plenty of things in my luggage to keep me warm. I even took along my blue blanket. Visiting British Columbia, Canada, didn't prepare me for how cold it really was in Sweden. Thank goodness I decided to just go cyberspace all the way there and back. I mean I enjoyed my plane ride experience to Taiwan and all, but once I got to Yoggie's place I was glad I was spared the airport busine
ss and the cold blustery winds off the sea. So, on November 19th, I left my warm apartment and popped into Yoggie's warm house. If it hadn't have been for Yoggie's hanging bed on his radiator, I'd still be cold.
Now, I know what you're going to say, that a fluffhead like me wouldn't know hot from cold. But like I've said before, I'm magical and mysterious, even a little bit mischievous, and I experience hot and cold just like any other creature. So, I no sooner said hello to Yoggie than I opened up my suitcase and put on all my warm things. I must admit, I should have told Gre
tchen's bean to pack mittens and booties, but I didn't think about those things until after I got there.
Yoggie let me wrap up in my blue blanket on his cute, hanging bed. It was this big, soft, furry like hammock. Yellow with huge black paw prints all over it. I mean his hanging bed was huge. There was more than enough room for both of us to sleep in it at the same time. Yoggie's not a half-pint either. He's a big fellow, Gretchen. Pictures don't do him justice. Not only is he a huge mancat, but he's a lot more handsome in person. We also hung out on the bean's bed a lot, too.
For those of you that don't know, already. Yoggie, and my furry sister, Gretchen, are sweethearts. I'm not kidding! They really do love each other. They've never
met outside of the blogosphere, but they write notes to each other all the time. Yoggie is a romantic Cat poet. He can write the neatest stuff. He gets all goofy looking in the eyes, when he talks about Gretchen. Now that I've actually met Yoggie, and spent some time with him, in my opinion, Gretchen has got nothing to worry about. He's a real prince o f a mancat…she actually calls him her Prince and he calls her is Pearl. They've got some serious feelings for each other. He even asked her to marry him a few months back. Poor Yoggie, Gretchen had to turn his proposal down…for the moment, anyway. While I had the opportunity, I explained things a little better to Yoggie. Gretchen is so young, and so shy, and had just started meeting other cats on the web, that his proposal kinda of scared her a little. She just needs more time, I told him, and he seemed to understand that; at least to say, he was cool with it, for now.
The land that Yoggie lives in is very far north and is pretty flat, at least the part that I saw. He lives very close to the sea and he blogged about it a few months back. I would have loved to have shown you all the pictures he posted of the Swedish countryside, but they were pretty small and I'd forgotten to ask his permission before I started writing this. So here is the link if you want to see where he lives ... go here...You'd be amazed, honest!
Yoggie said that Sweden is a virtual paradise for cats—almost everybody in his country has a cat or two. There are at least nine million humans and over a million, point three, cats. Heh, the woofies are in the minority at only seven hundred thirty thousand something. Honest! That's what he said. He should know, he lives there. But to be honest, how do humans know for sure how many cats and woofies there really are? Surprisingly enough, he said they don't have any rabies, either.
Yoggie lives at the very southern tip of Sweden, and if you go way up north, there are real live reindeers and wolves and brown bears and a whole bunch of Swedish dogs. Heh, all the woofies live in the north with the bears, and all the cats live in the south with the humans. Pretty good arrangement, I'd say. Oh, and I forgot to mention, lots of friendly Moose live in the s
outh, too.
If you like fish, this is the place to be. Cats are well fed here. Somehow, even the cats here like the cold…and I'm talking, minus a bunch of degrees, cold. And dark? Wow, only mid-November and it's darker longer than it is back in Oregon. I don't know how they do it. I know Yoggie and I did sleep a lot of the time. I guess what I'm saying is, not only bears hibernate. I was seriously thinking hibernation was really good idea. Yoggie told me the summers make up for the long, dark winters though; they get the midnight sun up there.
Yoggie has this magical little friend, too. His name is Jingle Bells. He's really called a squillion—a cute little ceramic cat with a tiny bell hanging around his neck. He gave me a tour of the library. Floor to ceiling bookcases filled with books. Gretchen's bean would be so jealous for all that space for books. And, lo and behold, if there wasn't a green fluffhead bookworm hanging o
ut on the bookshelf. He claims he's read almost every book on the shelf, already.
It was only the middle of November and Yoggie's beans had put up their little Swedish Christmas tree just for me to enjoy while I was there. We didn't tell anyone that I actually climbed the Christmas tree. I didn't hurt any of those cute, little Swedish ornaments, honest! We had a lot of fun running around the house. We didn't go outside or anything like that…too bloody cold to go out into the garden, but he showed me lots of pictures of the birds and other creatures that he'd seen.
On my last night in Sweden, Yoggie threw a surprise party for me. Imagine, me getting a surprise party. Wow, I was so overcome with emotion. He invited all his friends and we had fun all the long night long. I had been wrapped up tight, in my blue blanket, snoozing away on a green pillow when the Christmas Mice from Norway came in and shouted, SURPRISE!
A special fluffhead Moose had also come all the way from the Swedish forest just to see me. We became good friends. We've both got fluff for brains, but he's got something magical, li
ke me, going on up there in between those antlers, if you know what I mean. I got along famously with Yoggie and his little friends. I truly had a good time.
Soon it was time for our interview and then I had to pack and get ready to leave. I hated to say goodbye to any of them, but my week was up and I had to get back home. So, on Tuesday, November 27th, at six in the morning, I put all my stuff back into my suitcase, zipped it up and said goodbye.
And now for my interview with Yoggie:
Mike: How long have you lived with your bean(s)?
Yoggie: I live together with them since February 2006.
Mike: Do you have a favorite bean?
Yoggie: I love them both! My female human is at home more often and we snuggle up to each other a lot. My male human is great for playing!
Mike: What's your favorite food?
Yoggie: FISH!
Mike: What's your favorite treat?
Yoggie: Vanilla ice cream or pudding.
Mike: Where do you like to sleep?
Yoggie: In my cat bed at the heater or on the bed of my humans or in my cat bed in the living room.
Mike: Do you dream? What are your dreams about?
Yoggie: FOOD! Gretchen.
Mike: Do you like fluffheads, you know, those crafty little creatures with fiberfill for brains?
Yoggie: Well, I like Mike! And toy mice!
Mike: How many fluffheads live with you and your bean?
Yoggie: It would take more than 9 lives to count them... About 200???
Mike: Do you get along with your fluffheads? Really?
Yoggie: I like to nibble on them…
Mike: Do you have a special fluffhead friend?
Yoggie: MIKE!
Mike: Do your fluffheads ever talk to you? Do they talk to your beans, you know, like I can transmit my thoughts to one special bean in my house?
Yoggie: Sometimes they talk to me and say that I should stop nibble around on them. They talk constantly to my female human. They are her friends. That's why they are everywhere in the house. She told me that she still have some (a LOT) of them in the apartment of her parents and that they (the fluffies) will come over to Sweden as soon as the baby is born.
Mike: You have a very nice place here; tell me about your weather and your surroundings, what is it like outside your house?
Yoggie: Around my house are just fields and fields and fields... But it's close to the Baltic Sea, too: only 7 km!! That's why it is so windy here. The wind always comes from the sea. It paints the sky orange at night and we have wonderful sunsets and sunrises here.
Mike: Are you an inside only cat or do you get to go outside?
Yoggie: I LOVE my garden!!!! I love to play around there and go hunting and practice my jump skills.
Mike: Do you keep secrets from your beans? Sometimes Gretchen and I conspire against her mom bean in the middle of the night. It really freaks her out. Do you do things like that?
Yoggie: I don't tell my humans how often I scratch my claws on the back of their living room chairs...They are still pretty new.
Mike: Have you been gifted with any hidden talents?
Yoggie: I am a talented jumper!
Mike: Is there anything in your house that bothers you? That you're afraid of?
Yoggie: Well, in the garden there is the striped cat. We have lots of catfights. Inside the house?? No, just loud noises I don't like.
Mike: Do you stalk and capture real live critters like mice, spiders and stuff? What kinds of critters do you stalk? Do you eat what you catch?
Yoggie: I have hunted birds, moths, rats, mice, butterflies, bees, flies, bugs, spiders. I ate everything of them but not the birds and rats. I just presented them to my humans.
Mike: Do you have siblings or housemates? Do you get along with them?
Yoggie: I have no housemates besides my humans. Siblings?? I can't remember…
Mike: Do you have a sweetheart?
Yoggie: YES!!! Gretchen!!!!
Mike: What is your most fun activity?
Yoggie: Playing with my male human.
Well, this is Christmas Day and I've commandeered my caretaker's computer to write about my visit to Skane, Sweden that took place over a month ago. I left Oregon with plenty of things in my luggage to keep me warm. I even took along my blue blanket. Visiting British Columbia, Canada, didn't prepare me for how cold it really was in Sweden. Thank goodness I decided to just go cyberspace all the way there and back. I mean I enjoyed my plane ride experience to Taiwan and all, but once I got to Yoggie's place I was glad I was spared the airport busine
ss and the cold blustery winds off the sea. So, on November 19th, I left my warm apartment and popped into Yoggie's warm house. If it hadn't have been for Yoggie's hanging bed on his radiator, I'd still be cold.Now, I know what you're going to say, that a fluffhead like me wouldn't know hot from cold. But like I've said before, I'm magical and mysterious, even a little bit mischievous, and I experience hot and cold just like any other creature. So, I no sooner said hello to Yoggie than I opened up my suitcase and put on all my warm things. I must admit, I should have told Gre
tchen's bean to pack mittens and booties, but I didn't think about those things until after I got there.Yoggie let me wrap up in my blue blanket on his cute, hanging bed. It was this big, soft, furry like hammock. Yellow with huge black paw prints all over it. I mean his hanging bed was huge. There was more than enough room for both of us to sleep in it at the same time. Yoggie's not a half-pint either. He's a big fellow, Gretchen. Pictures don't do him justice. Not only is he a huge mancat, but he's a lot more handsome in person. We also hung out on the bean's bed a lot, too.
For those of you that don't know, already. Yoggie, and my furry sister, Gretchen, are sweethearts. I'm not kidding! They really do love each other. They've never
met outside of the blogosphere, but they write notes to each other all the time. Yoggie is a romantic Cat poet. He can write the neatest stuff. He gets all goofy looking in the eyes, when he talks about Gretchen. Now that I've actually met Yoggie, and spent some time with him, in my opinion, Gretchen has got nothing to worry about. He's a real prince o f a mancat…she actually calls him her Prince and he calls her is Pearl. They've got some serious feelings for each other. He even asked her to marry him a few months back. Poor Yoggie, Gretchen had to turn his proposal down…for the moment, anyway. While I had the opportunity, I explained things a little better to Yoggie. Gretchen is so young, and so shy, and had just started meeting other cats on the web, that his proposal kinda of scared her a little. She just needs more time, I told him, and he seemed to understand that; at least to say, he was cool with it, for now.The land that Yoggie lives in is very far north and is pretty flat, at least the part that I saw. He lives very close to the sea and he blogged about it a few months back. I would have loved to have shown you all the pictures he posted of the Swedish countryside, but they were pretty small and I'd forgotten to ask his permission before I started writing this. So here is the link if you want to see where he lives ... go here...You'd be amazed, honest!
Yoggie said that Sweden is a virtual paradise for cats—almost everybody in his country has a cat or two. There are at least nine million humans and over a million, point three, cats. Heh, the woofies are in the minority at only seven hundred thirty thousand something. Honest! That's what he said. He should know, he lives there. But to be honest, how do humans know for sure how many cats and woofies there really are? Surprisingly enough, he said they don't have any rabies, either.
Yoggie lives at the very southern tip of Sweden, and if you go way up north, there are real live reindeers and wolves and brown bears and a whole bunch of Swedish dogs. Heh, all the woofies live in the north with the bears, and all the cats live in the south with the humans. Pretty good arrangement, I'd say. Oh, and I forgot to mention, lots of friendly Moose live in the s
outh, too.If you like fish, this is the place to be. Cats are well fed here. Somehow, even the cats here like the cold…and I'm talking, minus a bunch of degrees, cold. And dark? Wow, only mid-November and it's darker longer than it is back in Oregon. I don't know how they do it. I know Yoggie and I did sleep a lot of the time. I guess what I'm saying is, not only bears hibernate. I was seriously thinking hibernation was really good idea. Yoggie told me the summers make up for the long, dark winters though; they get the midnight sun up there.
Yoggie has this magical little friend, too. His name is Jingle Bells. He's really called a squillion—a cute little ceramic cat with a tiny bell hanging around his neck. He gave me a tour of the library. Floor to ceiling bookcases filled with books. Gretchen's bean would be so jealous for all that space for books. And, lo and behold, if there wasn't a green fluffhead bookworm hanging o
ut on the bookshelf. He claims he's read almost every book on the shelf, already.It was only the middle of November and Yoggie's beans had put up their little Swedish Christmas tree just for me to enjoy while I was there. We didn't tell anyone that I actually climbed the Christmas tree. I didn't hurt any of those cute, little Swedish ornaments, honest! We had a lot of fun running around the house. We didn't go outside or anything like that…too bloody cold to go out into the garden, but he showed me lots of pictures of the birds and other creatures that he'd seen.
On my last night in Sweden, Yoggie threw a surprise party for me. Imagine, me getting a surprise party. Wow, I was so overcome with emotion. He invited all his friends and we had fun all the long night long. I had been wrapped up tight, in my blue blanket, snoozing away on a green pillow when the Christmas Mice from Norway came in and shouted, SURPRISE!
A special fluffhead Moose had also come all the way from the Swedish forest just to see me. We became good friends. We've both got fluff for brains, but he's got something magical, li
ke me, going on up there in between those antlers, if you know what I mean. I got along famously with Yoggie and his little friends. I truly had a good time.Soon it was time for our interview and then I had to pack and get ready to leave. I hated to say goodbye to any of them, but my week was up and I had to get back home. So, on Tuesday, November 27th, at six in the morning, I put all my stuff back into my suitcase, zipped it up and said goodbye.
And now for my interview with Yoggie:
Mike: How long have you lived with your bean(s)?
Yoggie: I live together with them since February 2006.
Mike: Do you have a favorite bean?
Yoggie: I love them both! My female human is at home more often and we snuggle up to each other a lot. My male human is great for playing!
Mike: What's your favorite food?
Yoggie: FISH!
Mike: What's your favorite treat?
Yoggie: Vanilla ice cream or pudding.
Mike: Where do you like to sleep?
Yoggie: In my cat bed at the heater or on the bed of my humans or in my cat bed in the living room.
Mike: Do you dream? What are your dreams about?
Yoggie: FOOD! Gretchen.
Mike: Do you like fluffheads, you know, those crafty little creatures with fiberfill for brains?
Yoggie: Well, I like Mike! And toy mice!
Mike: How many fluffheads live with you and your bean?
Yoggie: It would take more than 9 lives to count them... About 200???
Mike: Do you get along with your fluffheads? Really?
Yoggie: I like to nibble on them…
Mike: Do you have a special fluffhead friend?
Yoggie: MIKE!
Mike: Do your fluffheads ever talk to you? Do they talk to your beans, you know, like I can transmit my thoughts to one special bean in my house?
Yoggie: Sometimes they talk to me and say that I should stop nibble around on them. They talk constantly to my female human. They are her friends. That's why they are everywhere in the house. She told me that she still have some (a LOT) of them in the apartment of her parents and that they (the fluffies) will come over to Sweden as soon as the baby is born.
Mike: You have a very nice place here; tell me about your weather and your surroundings, what is it like outside your house?
Yoggie: Around my house are just fields and fields and fields... But it's close to the Baltic Sea, too: only 7 km!! That's why it is so windy here. The wind always comes from the sea. It paints the sky orange at night and we have wonderful sunsets and sunrises here.
Mike: Are you an inside only cat or do you get to go outside?
Yoggie: I LOVE my garden!!!! I love to play around there and go hunting and practice my jump skills.
Mike: Do you keep secrets from your beans? Sometimes Gretchen and I conspire against her mom bean in the middle of the night. It really freaks her out. Do you do things like that?
Yoggie: I don't tell my humans how often I scratch my claws on the back of their living room chairs...They are still pretty new.
Mike: Have you been gifted with any hidden talents?
Yoggie: I am a talented jumper!
Mike: Is there anything in your house that bothers you? That you're afraid of?
Yoggie: Well, in the garden there is the striped cat. We have lots of catfights. Inside the house?? No, just loud noises I don't like.
Mike: Do you stalk and capture real live critters like mice, spiders and stuff? What kinds of critters do you stalk? Do you eat what you catch?
Yoggie: I have hunted birds, moths, rats, mice, butterflies, bees, flies, bugs, spiders. I ate everything of them but not the birds and rats. I just presented them to my humans.
Mike: Do you have siblings or housemates? Do you get along with them?
Yoggie: I have no housemates besides my humans. Siblings?? I can't remember…
Mike: Do you have a sweetheart?
Yoggie: YES!!! Gretchen!!!!
Mike: What is your most fun activity?
Yoggie: Playing with my male human.
5 comments:
What a nice and interesting story ! I knew that it is very dark there in winter and they only have about 4h daylight, not very much ! But good for cats because they have even more reason to sleep the whole day !
There were not a lot of COT participants certainly because of Christmas. I celebrated in Amsterdam and it was very nice !
Yoggie is a great friend~!!!
I am very happy to know Gretchen with him. She is making the best choice~!!!
And also glad to see Mike been there~! So cold place~! Mike is very brave!!
What a wonderful visit for Mike!
Such adventures he is having.
I had a fun time catching up on your blog.
Merry Christmas!
I love you Mom :)
Love # 3
Happy Boxing Day.
We hope you haded a grate Christmas.
Adorable! I'm sure Mike is enjoying his international travels -- how exciting!
I think I would like Sweden -- you can't go wrong with (1) a place that's very cool and (2) a place where people love cats! :-D
Warm fuzzy hugs to you, and purrs from the Ballicai!
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