Wednesday, May 12, 2010

The End of Season Wrap Up

I just knew I was asking for trouble when I named this the Daily Meow. I guess I was being overly ambitious at the time and truly thought I would have time or daily content. Oh well.......you can also catch us on Facebook for more up to the minute Kokopellie happenings.

Since the last post we've been to two more shows including the last show of the season in Tucson. We ended the season on a high note. Polar was Best Alter in Show, Nicky was Second Best Cat in show and I believe PJ was 8th Best Cat in Show. Between the three of them they brought home 42 finals. Woohoo!! 16 out of 18 for both Nicky and Polar and 10 for PJ. Not too shabby. We are mighty proud of the boys.

The kittens are growing fast and furious. Lots of cute little furballs in the group. There is some show potential in there. Our favorite, a brown classic torbie Siberian, Nicolette, will be going to live in CT and start her show career with Linda Levine. Nicolette is Nicky's daughter. She is the spitting image of him. Linda should do very well with her as a show kitty and later as a breeder. Keep watch here all summer. We'll be posting Nicolette updates.

We're still on kitten watch for PJ and Chocolat. Turns out she wasn't pregnant and we didn't have chocolate Easter kittens. :-( We're hoping that PJ hit his mark the second go around and that we will have early June chocolate kittens. Keep your fingers crossed.

Now....for the end of season wrap up........way to go Team Kokopellie!! We had 14 Team Kokopellie cats/kittens/alters showing this past season. In 25 shows they managed to bring home 399 finals and 37,846 points. Woohoo!!!! Not too shabby.

We have some great plans for this season. In our first show of the season we're bringing out a couple of our ladies. Kokopellies Sasha and Cooncreole Stalina. Sasha is Frosty's daughter and mother to Nicky. We have our eye on a little Siberian that we're currently calling Peter the Great and maybe a Bobtail or two. We have some very anxious people in England and France hoping for Kokopellie babies this season. Who knows.......we may go international this year. We will also have Bob showing. Bob is a seal lynx point Bobtail. He will be showing with Anthony Hutcherson for part of the season as Anthony is in the process of meeting his judging program requirements and wanted to show a Kokopellie baby. We'll also have Miss Nicolette showing in the MA region. And who knows where else.

I will do my best to keep a more up to date daily Daily Meow. We'll see!!!!

meow for now,
melissa

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Denver, Phoenix, birthdays, kittens.....oh my!!

Well.....things have been pretty busy here in Kokopellie land. Nicky and Polar went to Denver and Phoenix. My Sean Thornton and Mary Kate Danaher celebrated their 12th birthdays, we have kittens everywhere and..........well.....there is more but I can't quite comment on it right now.

We'll start with Nicky and Polar in Denver. Nicky finaled in all but one ring and was 2nd Best Cat in show. Polar finaled in all but one ring and was Best Alter in show. Woohoo!! The show was great. The Colorado Cats Club did a fantastic job hosting. We ate at an incredible restaurant called Emil-Lenes....or something close to that. We can't wait for the regional in July/Aug.

Nicky, Polar and I went to Phoenix without Jon. More on the reason why at a later date. We did have kittens due, which is a good enough reason for Jon not to go, but we have even better reason coming.....:-) The show was a 16 ring show. Nicky finaled in 15 out of 16 and Polar finaled in 13 out of 16. Nicky was 2nd Best Cat in show and Polar was 2nd Best Alter in show. Woohoo again!! They did fantastic. Nicky showed/slept well the whole time. Yes...he slept through most of his judging and finals. LOL. Also got to go to my favorite restaurant, Bobby Qs. If you're ever in Phoenix try to go to Bobby Qs. It's quite possibly the best brisket I've ever eaten.

Kittens, kittens, kittens. We have kittens. Bobtails and now Siberians. All colors and sizes. We've had so many requests for kittens and they all came into heat at the same time......well....springtime!! Hopefully we'll be able to deliver some beautiful babies to their new homes in the upcoming months. There may even be a show baby or two in the litters. We're keeping our fingers crossed.

We have some interesting things happening here at Kokopellie that I should hopefully be able to brag about soon. Don't want to go jinxing anything.......

Two more shows for the season, Arcadia and Tucson. Love the Tucson show.

News and pictures of the babies has been posted on the Facebook page. I'm having trouble uploading pictures to FB today for some reason. Once they let me the newest pics will be posted.

meow for now...
melissa

Friday, March 5, 2010

Bobtail Love

I can't believe how much my life has changed in just 4 years. Four years ago on March 3rd, I was promised an exquisite bundle of fur. All I had to do was to promise to show him in at least 10 shows. The rest is history.

So Polar Express and I just celebrated the 4th anniversary of the day we met. I guess that means that Jon and I just celebrated the 4th anniversary of the day we met as well. This was also the beginning of Bobtail love.

Now remember, before Polar and PJ and Pony came into my life I did already have an American Bobtail. I just didn't know it at the time. Pierre came into my life in 1996, when he was just 3 weeks old. What a little cutie he was. Of course at the time we didn't know much about the breeds so we just kind of assumed he was some kind of Japanese Bobtail. He did look exactly like a J-Bob that was showing at the time, JB. So we just kind of assumed.

Pierre was a little different from other cats. He didn't meow. He made these cute little chirpy, chattery noises. Nothing Pierre did seemed accidental. Everything had a reason. He was like a little dog. He is very social, even when biting his cat sitters. :-) (that last part isn't very Am Bob like) LOL. I always knew Pierre was a little different. Even once I became aware of the American Bobtails, I didn't put two and two together. I thought Am Bobs only came in brown tabby. Little did I know!!

Once I moved to the SW Region my eyes were opened to something a little different. There was a gorgeous American Bobtail owned by a guy named Jon. This Am Bob was Snow Hawk. (Polar's uncle). What a gorgeous hunk of cat. But I was happily showing my Maine Coon, Finney.

Well.......around March of 2001, Finney's show career was coming to an end. I was desperately trying to Supreme him. He was enjoying it very much and I was getting frustrated. I had nothing else to show. Then came the Cabazon show.

On Saturday Jon went walking by with two of the cutest kittens I had ever seen. Polar and his brother Bear. I proclaimed how cute they were and Jon offered me Polar. I was left speechless and confused. Did people really offer cats for free? I figured I had misunderstood and that Jon would soon be telling me how much I would have to pay to own Polar. I didn't misunderstand. The deal was that I had to promise to show him in at least 10 shows. I promised. We made the deal that Jon was going to finish showing him in kitten class and that I would get Polar the next month to start showing as an Alter.

From the minute he put Polar into my arms I was hooked. This amazing little creature absolutely captivated me with those blue eyes of his. And....he was so well behaved. When I brought him home I put the carrier down, opened the door and said welcome. He walked out and head butted the first cat he saw, walked around and instantly moved in.

The first thing he did at bedtime was to crawl under the blanket and cuddle. I have since found out that his Mom, JJ, does the same thing. JJ kittens are undercover kitties.

I now had a second cat in the house that didn't meow. He just made these cute chirpy and chattering noises. Hmmm.....similarities? Yep.....it was decided that Pierre was an American Bobtail as well.

Then Painted Pony came to live with us. She was a Bobtail that didn't bob. She had a full tail. We showed her as a Household Pet. Painted Pony was our first International winner. She was 9th Best HHPK. Pony acted the same way as Polar and Pierre. Once Pony came into the house the real fun began. Now with three Bobtails we could have the Bobtail Olympics. They had lots of fun. They had climbing events, running events and jumping events.

Bobtails love company. They're social cats. Whether it be people or other cats. They love to be a part of a community. The more Bobtails the better. They run in a little pack.

After losing my Sundance, Jon sent PJ home to live with me. What joy and fun a pack of Bobtails bring to a home. They're clever, fun-loving little clowns. They have so much fun creating mischief that it's hard to be angry with them for knocking over a lamp. :-)

I have a pack of Bobtails that range in age from 2 years to 14 years. I wouldn't trade anything for this experience. Of course things are about to change just a bit. PJ now has a bride, Chocolat. Chocolat is expecting a litter of Easter babies. The pack is about to get bigger. At least temporarily..........

So four years ago is when Bobtail love truly hit me. I can't get enough of this wonderful breed. There will be more to come about these incredible balls of fluff....

meow for now,
melissa

Monday, February 22, 2010

February recap

Since I haven't posted since Feb 1st, looks like I should recap how our month has been going. To start off the month, PJ was still trying to figure out what to do with Chocolat. Ah...the ongoing breeding saga. Around Feb 3rd Chocolat went into heat. For the next week, she wouldn't leave PJ alone. Well.......as of last night, it looks like her persistence paid off. Looks like the Easter Bunny could be bringing us a chocolate litter. Cadbury anyone??

We also had a couple of shows this month. Nicky and Polar headed off to the bright lights of Las Vegas to compete at the Cats in Sin City show. They did great. Nicholas finaled in 10 out of 14 rings and Polar finaled in 8 out of 14. We're very proud of the boys. The hotel was very nice and we did get to experience a bit of the strip on Saturday night with great friends. Would highly recommend the restaurant Mon Ami Gabi at the Paris. Yum!!

This past weekend we stayed close to home and went to a show in Arcadia. Nicky finaled in all 10 rings, Polar finaled in 9 rings and PJ finaled in 3 rings. The boys did great. We are very, very proud of them.

The show season is winding down. A couple of shows in March, a couple of shows in April and lots of litters due in those two months as well. We needed a couple of new show cats. Kittens coming soon!!

Hope everyone is staying warm and happy. Cuddle those kitties, they deserve it.

meow for now,
melissa

Monday, February 1, 2010

Catching up on recent events

Well.....here we already into February. Time is flying already. Since my last meow we've had two shows that the cats competed in and one show that Mom and I were just vendors.

The January 16th Arcadia show went very well for Team Kokopellie. Kokopellies Polar Express was Best Alter in Show!! Kokopellies Czar Nicholas was 4th Best Cat in Show. Woohoo!! Way to go boys!!

The Arcadia show this past weekend was also great fun. Nicky got 8 out of 10 finals, including a Best Cat. Polar got 6 out of 10 finals, including 2 Best Alters. Painted Feather got 2 finals and Nicky's Mom, Sasha got a final in the Female Congress.

We also got some amazing photos the last two shows from Diana Starr of Starrlight Photography. Once we settle on the images we want we'll be posting new photos of everyone. She has pretty much photographed all of our Siberian girls and a few of our Bobtail ladies and most of our Siberian boys. One of our favorite photos is the one she took of Feather two weeks ago. It can be viewed on our Facebook page....

The show this past weekend was a blast. We had so much fun. We celebrated Nicky's supreme with a few appetizers, caught up with old friends and just in general had a great time.

The video and stills from this weekend can be viewed on my personal Facebook page. I'll also post links on the Kokopellie page soon as well. Our friend Emmons celebrated his birthday this weekend. Some friends sent him a singing telegram. That's what is on the video and still photos. Hope you all enjoy the silliness that goes on at the cat shows.

We have a bunch more shows for the season. We have a few girls due soon so we're hoping for a new show baby.

An update on PJ and Chocolat. They're still dating, but things seem to have shifted into high gear this past weekend. When I got home, PJ ignored me all last night and this morning. Pretty much like he did the day I brought Chocolat home. She seems a bit more responsive to his advances.......We could have some breeding action soon. I can't wait for all those chocolate babies to come our way.......Keep your fingers crossed.

meow for now,
melissa

Friday, January 15, 2010

I finally got one!!

Well....if you do something long enough you're bound to run into all things possible. I guess the same applies to owning cats as well. If you have a large number of cats over your lifetime you're going to run into the whole spectrum of cat problems, both behavioral and health.

I have been quite lucky in my cat ownership. I have had my trials and tribulations with them but I was able to avoid one cat owner headache. The toilet paper cat. You all know what I'm talking about.

The toilet paper cat is the reason for the empty toilet paper holders in most cat owning households. There is one cat who, for some reason, likes to unroll it. They claw it, they chew on it, they unroll it.

PJ's new girlfriend likes paper. She chews on boxes, she mows down my kleenex, now she's going after the toilet paper. I guess I can't really complain. She is after my one and only in all these years. I'm just going to have to figure out something clever to do so I have something to use.

Since we are the subject of PJ and his girlfriend, Chocolat I'll use this time to give an update. They are still dating. They haven't moved up to consummating the relationship yet. My poor little man just can't quite figure it all out. However......this morning he did come a lot closer to his target than all during the week.

They will be honeymooning in Arcadia this weekend. I entered PJ and Polar and decided to bring her along to keep him company. We shall see what happens.

meow for now,
melissa

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Team Kokopellie

Well....let's hear it for Team Kokopellie. Last year we had the Fab Four. This year we have Team Kokopellie.

This past weekend was a fun one for Team Kokopellie. I went to the Lodi show with Czar Nicholas and Polar Express. We had a blast and brought home 18 finals. Also in attendance was Kokopellies Arctic Chill aka Chilly. He is owned by a junior exhibitor in the Mid Pacific region, Jorie Shepherd. Chilly is a handsome young man who just turned 8 months old and graduated from the kitten to cat class. Judge Fate Mays sees some potential in him as he awarded Chilly Best of Breed in his ring on Sunday out of 4 adult Siberians. Way to go Chilly!!

On the other side of the country, Kokopellies Anasazi Spirit, a black and white American Bobtail longhair, was competing in the TICA show in Milwaukee, WI. Annie brought home two finals at her show bringing the Team Kokopellie total to 20 for the weekend.

We love to see those Kokopellie cats all over the country showing.

The show was so much fun. Our friend Emmons will be celebrating a milestone birthday at the end of the month. He was a pretty good sport about all the extra cage decorations that made it on to his cage Friday night. And although I missed it, I hear that he had quite some trouble eating the special cake that was made for him.

I took lots of pictures and even some video this weekend. Once we figure out how to add videos to the website you'll see some of those popping up. Also once I edit the pictures down in size I'll be posting some of those as well.

So much fun!! I just love this hobby sometimes. :-)

On to Arcadia this weekend. Should be lots of fun.

meow for now,
melissa