Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Meowy Christmas to all

Well.....I just realized that I haven't updated in quite awhile. You've probably been sitting on the edges of your seats wondering what happened at the Arcadia and North Carolina shows. Both shows went fairly well.

We'll start with Jon and North Carolina. Before I even left work that Friday Nicky already had three finals including a Best Kitten. It was a nice way to start the weekend. All in all Nicky ended up with 14 finals including 5 Best Kitten awards. Overall he was the 3rd Best Kitten in show. There were over 54 kittens entered. Not too shabby. With all the stuff they gave out at the First in Flight show Jon needed a second suitcase to bring everything home. It was quite a haul.

Here on the California homefront went pretty well also. With four cats entered I believe we brought home 25 finals. Frosty got 9, Alexandra got 6, Sorbet got 5 and Polar got 5. Two or three of Frosty's finals were Best Cats. Again, not too shabby.

It was a good weekend filled with great cats, good friends and a good meal on Saturday night.

Now everyone is just kind of resting their paws during their mini vacation until the Lodi show. Nicky and Alexandra will be taking some time off as they have graduated from the kitten class. Most likely you'll just be seeing Polar and Frosty and maybe PJ out for the remainder of the show season. Honestly, Jon and I need a break. Running four cats in one show, especially cats that have been finaling has been pretty grueling. But it's been a fun kind of exhaustion.

Now we're gearing up for Christmas. The cats all hung their stockings this weekend. I already caught Polar and Finnegan, my Maine Coon, trying to peek inside to see if any early mice were left. Frosty and the girls went home on Sunday. I miss Frosty already. He is such a sweet cat. The upside is that we have our PJ back. Boy is he happy to be home with Momma. The cat won't leave me alone. All he wants to do is give eskimo kisses and hug me. Some of the other cats are looking a bit jealous.

Can't wait to see if he tries to help me make Christmas cookies. That ought to be fun.

Hope everyone has a great Christmas. Try to keep warm and enjoy yourselves.

Merry Christmas to all.

melissa and the furry herd
and
Jon and Jan Kokopellies American Bobtails & Siberians

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Tucson show

Sorry for the delay in meowing. It's been really busy here. Came back from Monterey and only had a couple of days until leaving for Tucson. Jon was going to be picking up the boys on his way to Tucson so I had to have everything ready to go before I left for work on Friday. I would follow on Friday afternoon. Well......circumstances changed and I was able to get the whole day off on Friday so I was able to help show instead of showing up with only an hour or so left.

Tucson as always was great. We had 5 cats entered. Poor PJ didn't make any finals. :-( He's at that weird teenage stage right now. So.....between the other four cats we brought home 46 finals. Miss Sorbet was the surprise. She made 8 finals!! Not too shabby. Polar brought home 10 out of 18 and both Frosty and Nicky brought home 14 out of 18.

Frosty and Nicky each started the show with a Best and ended the show with a Best. We ended up with 10 bests between the 3 boys. Polar got 2, Frosty got 5 and Nicky got 3. It was a really great weekend.

Another fun thing that happened at the show. There were, in most of the cat and kitten finals, a Maine Coon, a Norwegian Forest Cat and a Siberian. In some cases, those were the top three. It was really nice to see the three related breeds next to each other. It really gave people a chance to see the actual physical differences in the breeds.

Dinner on Saturday and Sunday nights was great. It was spent in the company of good friends and good food. What more could you ask for?

We have one more show this weekend before we get a little break until after the first of the year. Jon and Nicky and our newest little man, Mufasa are in North Carolina. I'm in Arcadia with Polar, Frosty, Sorbet and Alexandra. Two Siberians, two American Bobtails. We have to keep things even. :-) We're hoping for great weekends on both coasts.

Good friends+great cats=one fun weekend!!

meow for now,
melissa

Monday, December 1, 2008

The Monterey Show.....Woohoo!!

So......who needs to fight thousands of people the Friday after Thanksgiving to go and spend money that you don't really have. I certainly didn't. Instead, I headed up the coast on a beautiful sunny California day to Monterey, CA. The East of Eden Cat Club was kind enough to throw together a show for us the weekend after Thanksgiving. Instead of spending money I didn't have I spent the weekend in the company of good friends, great cats and gorgeous weather. I even ate sushi and liked it. Go figure.

Now....the best part of the weekend........Nicholas finaled in 10 out of 10 rings and was Best Kitten in show. Polar finaled in 8 out of 10 rings and was Best Alter in Show. Frosty got 7 or 8 finals and PJ got his first 2 big boy finals. It was a great weekend. The other cats in competition were incredible. I even had some specatators approach who, after looking at the name on the cage said, "you're that ad in Cat Fancy". It was a fun weekend.

Can't wait for the next show.....oh wait, it's on Friday. :-) See you in Tucson.

meow for now,
melissa

Friday, November 21, 2008

updated standings

I just love when the estimated standings get updated. Especially this season. With the most current update, this morning, I'm pleased to announce the most current rankings of the crew.

Kokopellies Polar Express aka Polar is currently the 12th Best Alter and Best of Breed American Bobtail Alter

Cooncreole Zhivago aka Frosty is currently the 19th Best Cat and Best of Breed Siberian

Kokopellies Czar Nicholas aka Nicky is currently the 24th Best Kitten and Best of Breed Siberian kitten

Kokopellies Polar Frost aka PJ is currently the 37th Best Kitten and Best of Breed American Bobtail kitten

Woohoo!!! Of course some of these numbers will change as they still have yet to score the Albuquerque show from a month ago. PJ, Polar, Frosty and Alexandra will rise in the rankings as they were all at the show. Nicky sat that one out.

PJ is now done with the kitten class. He makes his big boy debut in Monterey Thanksgiving weekend. We'll see what he can do as a big boy.

The show report from the Arcadia show posted yesterday. It was a nice report. :-) Nicky was 2nd Best Kitten in show. PJ was something like 9th or 10th. I forgot to count. Frosty was 2nd best Cat in show and Polar was 7th Best Alter. Not too shabby. We're very proud of the Fab Four.

A big congratulations to Miss Blue Angel who was Best Alter in show. Quite an achievement for such a beautiful young lady. She is a lovely Balinese owned by Pat and Art Still of the MP region. Yay Angel!!

That's enough bragging for now. I uploaded new baby pictures to the website, www.kokopellie.com Check the American Bobtail kittens page and the Siberian Kittens page. I've also updated the numbers on the Show Cats page. Just for kicks and giggles we decided to keep track of the number of finals this season. We're already up to 357!!. This is going to be a fun season.

meow for now,
melissa

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

What a weekend

Well.....once again we had quite a memorable weekend. Jon and Alexandra went to the Livonia show. The Fab Four and I stayed here and went to the Arcadia show. Between the two shows and five cats we brought home 44 finals! Woohoo!!

Here's the breakdown: Alexandra and Polar each got 7 finals. One of Polar's was a Best Alter from Heather Roberts. PJ and Nicholas each got 9 finals. Nicky got 4 bests, 3-2nds, 1-3rd and 1-4th. Frosty brought home 12 finals including a Best Cat award.

It was a fun and exciting weekend at both shows. Out east in Livonia, Jon got to experience snow for the first time. He also got to meet a lot of my old friends from the Great Lakes region. I'm particularly grateful to those who were nice and showed him a great time. For those who didn't.......karma is all I will say. Out here on the west coast we definitely didn't have snow. We had fires. There were four fires that started either Friday or Saturday that were rather close to the area we were at. But we weren't in any immediate danger. Some of our friends weren't so fortunate and were unable to come back to the show on Saturday or Sunday. We're hoping all is okay with them.

On Monday we were able to start the day here in San Diego with two very minor earthquakes. The first one, a 4.1, was so minor I slept throught it. The second one, a 3.8, I didn' feel. There was a loud bang and then a shdudder and that was it.

Now we're going to plan the next shows. Nicky and Frosty go home on Sunday. Jon will drive down and pick them up. And then I'll pick them up again on Friday and take them to Monterey. It's a never ending cycle. But it sure is fun.

I almost feel bad about enjoying myself at the shows. It's hard not to smile and be happy when the cats are doing so well. How can you possibly hide your happiness. But on the other hand, I don't want it to appear as if I'm gloating. What I've started to tell people is that I've waited 13 years for a season like this. I'm going to enjoy myself and not apologize for it. We just happen to be blessed with 7 awesome cats this season. We're not even actively showing the other three, only sporadically. They'll get their turn to shine.

Now it's time to restock and re-pack the show supplies, pick out an appetizer to make to take to my brother's house for Thanksgiving and to continue to hope for another great showing.

meow for now,
melissa

Thursday, November 13, 2008

It's show time and kitten updates

Well....show time is upon us once again. Tomorrow is day one of a 3 day show. Actually day one of two 3 day shows. Jon is in Michigan with Alexandra. They're on their way to the hotel as I type (Christian just called). The Fab Four and I are going to the Arcadia show.

Two of the four baths are done. Polar and Nicky were last night. What fun. Nicky was none too happy about getting a bath. I think I managed to flood half the kitchen in the process. At one point while trying to keep him in the sink I dropped the sprayer. Of course it had to turn so the water was spraying up, instead of in the sink where it belonged. All over my glasses, face, hair, shirt, refrigerator, floor, mini blinds, etc. The only place it didn't seem to go at that point was on the cat. :-)

PJ and Frosty are tonight. Should be fun. PJ is usually very good. Frosty......I'm not sure. Jon says that he's an angel for his baths. Just stands there and complains a little with the occasional half-hearted attempt to get out of the sink. We'll see how good he is for his Auntie Melissa.

For anyone who has been checking the website to see the new baby pictures. They're coming. I actually spent a couple of hours the other night and none of my changes saved for some reason. Grrrrr........so now I have to do it over. Not fair. The babies are absolutely adorable. At this point, and probably because they're the oldest and have more personality, I really love the white litter of American Bobtails. They are so sweet and so fluffy. They're pure white, except for one lynx point. Can't wait to see how all those little short tails develop.

The Siberian litter is the Nicky litter revisited. The male kitten already looks like Nicky. His new family will love him. The Bengal litter is beautiful. So many spots!! And the silver American Bobtail litter is too cute, even if one of the little guys doesn't like me. I picked him up when visiting on Saturday. He hissed. So I started laughing. Then he spit at me. So I laughed harder. Then he swatted at me. Keep in mind his eyes are barely open. Too, too funny. The next day no problem. At this age they go by smell. He didn't know me. Can't wait to see him in a couple of weeks.

That's it for now.....happy showing to anyone who is going to a show this weekend. Have a fun weekend for anyone who isn't going to a show this weekend.

I'll post updates on both shows on Monday.

meow for now,
melissa

Monday, November 10, 2008

Well....one election is over and past and one election still sits before us (for those of you who read this that are a part of the cat fancy). At least our TICA election isn't filled with as much hate and accusations as the national election. Although there are some who are campaiging for some of the candidates who are spreading hate and lies instead of talking up the reasons why the candidate of her choice should be elected. I would also bet that the candidate doesn't realize what type of campaigning is being done on her behalf. It's really too bad that people can't leave personal feelings aside and just talk about the issues.

Oh well....on to better and happier things. The arrival of Mufasa. Well....he actually hasn't made it Jon's house yet, but he is in the country and staying with his Auntie Judy until he can make his way here. S Stimics Mufasa was in his first show this past weekend in Mississippi. From the show report he made four finals. Woohoo little king. Can't wait to meet him and cuddle him.

Siberian camp was set up at my house last night. Frosty and Nicky came back with me from Jon's house. Instead of going to Arcadia this weekend, Jon will be taking Alexandra and going to the Michigan show. I will be taking the Fab Four with me to Arcadia. So.....the boys are staying with me this week. It was an interesting night to say the least. PJ and Polar did their best to remind Nicky that he was in their house and had to abide by Bobtail rules. Poor little Nicky. Poor Frosty has to spend his time in a crate or my bathroom. Can't trust those whole boys!! :-)

So....there will be Kokopellie cats all over next weekend. I know one set of Kokopellie cats will be much warmer than the other Kokopellie cat. :-) I'm no dummy. I chose the show where I could wear shorts and not have to bundle up. Brrrrr.......but...Jon has vowed to wear shorts. We'll see how long that lasts. :-)

I got to see the kittens this weekend. Oh my God....how adorable. I'm going to edit all photos tonight and I'll post pictures tomorrow on the website. They are all so beautiful. The white bobtails are most adorable. They are just getting to the fun stage and they are so fluffy already. Great coats. And the muzzles!!! Nice wide muzzles. Jon is calling them the vacuum cleaner litter. Come mid January you'll be able to choose from a Hoover, Dyson, Kirby, Eureka, Dirt Devil, or a Bissell. :-) We just might have to keep back a Kirby for ourselves to show.

meow for now,
melissa