Dona Nobis Pacem

Meow Like A Pirate

... Arrr, together they go whar no pirate has gone before...

Avast Ye!

Today be Talk Like a Pirate Day, an international holiday whar human beans wake up and think be pirates and e'en try t' speak like a pirate.

But we cats BE born pirates, argh! We hunt, we keelhaul at noon, we steal and while drinkin' we Meow like a Pirate! Aye, we e'en ATE the parrot. Argh!

Go t' Meowers from Missouri and 'isit from thar our fellow pirates. And do it before you be four sheets t' wind. Aaaarrrrgggghhhh!

Aye, enough meowin', hearties, now we be thirstin'!

Until We Meet Again...

We are sad beyond words about our bestest man Roscoe's departure to the bridge. Our purrs and hearts are with his family right now.

You can go here to light a candle for Roscoe.

Good Bye Africa, Part 2

Once again it is time to say goodbye to Africa, this time everybody is planning to leave so hopefully we won't have to come back again and rescue the others a third time.....
We will seize this opportunity to post some "candid shots" taken at one point or another during our memorable and long safari.
This one made us feel as if Emil was there......

Yep - we got caught... HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

But so did someone else! It seems that Opus and Roscoe somehow found the time to set up a little business on the side while out here:

And when they were not busy corrupting the local wildlife they were still 'riding' it, hahahahahaha....
Here is Roscoe, on a zebra, who was nice enough to allow him to do so!

And our 'tough' little Sassy showed her soft side...

We took one final group shot...

...and then boarded the MFV to bring us all home! Good bye Africa - it was fun!!!

See some more pictures at Sassy and Opus and Roscoe!

The Conclusion. Finally!

The magic flying van safely returned Opus, Roscoe, Karl, Ruis, Momo, and Sassy to the lodge.

picture by Opus and Roscoe

With curiosity about to the kill the cats, Opus and Roscoe asked Karl and Ruis how is was they came into possession of the magic flying van.

Karl and Ruis went on to explain that after their failed rescue, they found a safe field to land their helicopter on. They were frantically trying to come up with a new rescue strategy when they spotted the magic van flying low over the African plains. With paws waving wildly, they meowed at the top of their lungs in hopes that the van would spot them. Their tactics worked and the van came in for a landing. Karl and Ruis were very curious to know who the pilot was and rushed to the van as fast as their eight feet would carry them.

"Imagine," Karl said with the light of the fire dancing across his eyes, "how surprised we were when we climbed into the van, only to find it empty."

"It was unbelievable," Ruis continued. "The van was flying itself!"

"We told the van that you guys were in trouble and that we had to get to you quick. We tied ropes around the bumper and flew right over to you," Karl went on to explain.

"I'm not surprised it was flying itself," said Opus. "It is, after all, a magic flying van. "

It turned out that back in May the magic flying van decided it needed a long vacation. After taking cats and dogs all over the world, the van was ready for a little vacation of its own. It had left a note for Opus and Roscoe, who were taking a cat nap when the van decided to leave, but the note was never found.

And so the mystry of the missing, magic, flying van was sloved!

After spending an afternoon in a sandpit, Sassy and Opus enjoyed the cool water of the pool while washing the sand out of their coats. Momo and Roscoe were so happy to have the van back, that they spent hours sitting in the front seat while Karl and Ruis made themselves comfortable on the roof of the van, making sure it wasn't about to leave again.

picture by Sassy

As night fell on the Africa plains, the six felines curled up together in bed happy to have each other as friends.

While the van parked itself outside and rested after a long summer of traveling....


Come back one more time on Tuesday for our Good Bye post - with a collection of our "most memorable pictures" - and you REALLY want to see those!!!!

The Rescue. AGAIN.

As you might recall, Opus, Roscoe, Momo and Sassy are stuck in some quicksand as our last rescue effort with the helicopter did not work out. They are calling out for help, but their cries are muffled by the sand. But then, just when they think they are about to use up another one of their nine lives, something appears on the horizon: something beautiful, something wonderful, something magical....

picture by opus and Roscoe

YES, it is us at the wheel of the magic flying van, arriving just as the fabulous four are about to sink under the sand completely. With ropes tied firmly to the bumper, the magical van is hovering over the quicksand pit while we are calling out to our friends, instructing them to reach out and grab a hold of the ropes.

picture by opus and Roscoe

Carefully but quickly, the magical van then lifts the felines out of the sand and out of harms way. With Sassy, Momo, Opus, and Roscoe clinging to the ropes, we direct the magical, flying van back to the lodge.

picture by opus and Roscoe

Does this mean that we had the magic van all along?
And if not, who stole the van and where has it been this entire time?

TO BE CONTINUED (again)

And Back To Africa......

While being back home our friends - of course - got into trouble. AGAIN!
Somehow they manged to get themselves all being stuck in some quicksand. You can read about this here.
And as the psychic and telepathic cats that we are - we picked up on it through a dream... Now the dream was not all that flattering - we dreamed of being the lone executives of CCSI - and it looked in the dream as if we might enjoy it.... which of course we WOULDN'T!
The thing was: we both had the exact same dream, continents apart, so we KNEW something is wrong!

We rented a helicopter and rushed to Africa, arriving just in time to find our friends almost completely submerged in quicksand. We immediately rushed to the aide of Momo, Sassy, Opus, and Roscoe.

picture by Opus and Roscoe and Karl

But just as we were lowering the basket to save our friends, the wind caused by the helicopter blades picked up causing a terrible dust storm. No longer able to see from all of the flying sand, we were forced to retreat.

picture by Opus and Roscoe and Karl

When the dust settled it was clear. Those cats were stuck for good.

picture by Opus and Roscoe

Waiting for us to come up with another idea, the four cats quickly sank deeper into the quicksand....

TO BE CONTINUED

Good Bye Africa

While the others will stay on for just a few more days Ruis has to go back home to be with his family after Maxime went to the bridge. And Karl needs to head back to The Cat Realm to get ready for Dare # 4! ( check out Dare#1, Dare#2, Dare#3 if you haven't participated!)

So it's time to say good bye - until we meet again for another adventure...

Don't miss to check with the others here and here as they still have adventures coming!

Remembering...

... so many who have left us this week. Cats. And a little human too.

Ruis sister Maxime.

Our friend Felix.


And dear little Sprout, Monty Q.'s human sister Violette. Her funeral service is today and our hearts are with her family. We will leave these candles burning all weekend.

Rhinocerus Encounter

Today a trip to the Rhinoceroses is scheduled. They are big (one ton or more in weight!) and quit impressive... somehow the fact that they are herbivorous does not calm us -

because this is how it looks from OUR side! Opus takes over the steering wheel and tries to get away but...

picture by Opus and Roscoe

...it is Roscoe who is saving the day! We don't think the Rhinoceroses have ever seen something like this - of course no animal is harmed in the whole process. Roscoe gets to dress up and impress...

picture by Opus and Roscoe

...and the Rhinoceroses discover fashion.... HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Come back for more! Check out the others here and here.

For Sprout

With heavy hearts did we learn about Sprouts passing. Big hugs and lots of love to Monty Q. and his family, we will purr for you and keep you in our thoughts!

We Got An Award And Are Still Relaxing......

Opus and Rpscoe have put together a beautiful slideshow about what happened on our safari so far!

We decided to keep on taking it easy, the lodge here is sooo wonderful. See more of what the others are up to today at Sassy's place.
We will now have a relaxing 'little' bath together......

picture by Opus and Roscoe

In other news:
The Island Cats, Wally, Ernie and Zoey, gave us the Arte y Pico Award! This is what they said: "...we really enjoy your safari stories!"

This award was created to be given to bloggers who inspire others with their creativity and their talents, also for contributing to the blogging world in whatever medium.
When you receive this award it is considered a “special honor.”

Thank you so much Wally, Ernie and Zoey!

We Love Quiet Times Together.....

The others had an excursion to the crocodiles planned for today. See here!

picture by Sassy

After one look at them Karl realized that they weren't actually lizards even if they looked like one and therefore he wasn't interested and talked Ruis into some 'quality time' together!

After a nice hot bath we had a romantic dinner under the African sky. We might have overdone it on the Dom Niptignon because later on we thought we saw Opus and Roscoe's missing van....

picture by Sassy

Giraffes

While the others are going to see some Hippos today (but might have problems posting about it as they have computer problems...) we opted for another romantic just the two of us excursion to see the Giraffes. We didn't have to go far to find a herd of them!

We had a feeling they were talking to each other but couldn't quiet understand what they were saying - when all of a sudden they charged after us and RIPPED our glasses right off our noses!!!
While Karl tried to get them back Ruis tried to keep the giraffe at bay....

After we got the glasses back Karl let out one of his famous ROOAARRRs and the whole herd went running, hahahahahahahahaha!

Then they explained that they were just fooling around with us. And Karl explained that he just did the same. And we gave them glasses as presents and parted as friends.

Do not miss to check out Sassy and Momo and Opus and Roscoe's for additional safari things!

Big Cat Day

After finding out about recent developments at The Cat Realm I, Karl was ready to head home! But Ruis convinced me that it wouldn't change anything so we might as well stay and enjoy the rest of the safari especially as today is Big Cat Day! We already saw some cheetahs on our first day, when Ruis so courageously posed for a picture with them, and today we saw them again! They came to the lodge to pay a friendly visit and Sassy took a picture of all of us together with the self timer!

picture by Sassy

Then we went in search for the leopards but it took us so long until we finally found them that it was way past lunch and already siesta time so all we could do was take our mid-day nap with them...

picture by Sassy

We then went for a romantic stroll through the savanna by ourselves and as luck would have it met the king of Africa - the lion! Good thing those cameras have the self timer options, hahahahahaha

Our adventures are not over, so come back!

Spa Day In Africa

Today the whole gang came over to our room for a good time in the hot tub. You'd think after their last adventure they would not go NEAR any hot water ever again.... but here they are "cooking" away, HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

picture by Sassy with some editing by Karl

Karl had a glass of Dom Niptignon with Sassy to celebrate the rescue and then Ruis called him away for a more private bath..........

Check back for more safari adventures in the next days!

The Rescue Mission

As you might have heard - Sassy, Momo, Opus and Roscoe were kidnapped by a tribe of Masai, and taken to Tanzania, where it looked like they were ready to be served for dinner.... All a BIG misunderstanding, as it turned out!
From watching old cheesy Hollywood movies the tribe was under the impression that the polite way to greet non-Africans was to put them in a pot of water over a slow cooking fire for a while.
Sassy explained it to them and by the time we arrived for the rescue they were already out of the pot.
Just in case we had brought along a lot of food as a trade-in for our friends.

The tribe was very happy about the additional 'snacks' and they added them to the table they were getting ready for us and we all had a wonderful meal together.

Afterward the Masai entertained us with some typical dancing and Roscoe immediately joined in!
And did pretty good we thought!

It was another fun day in Africa!

Safari Sunday

We have a feeling it might have been a good idea to stay at home today and take it easy....

But do not worry guys - we will interrupt our Safari Sunday immediately to get the rescue party out....
Help is on the way!

We Found Them!

picture by Sassy

They were elephant watching with their visitors Maggy and Zoey. Now they are elephant watching with their SURPRISE visitors Karl and Ruis too, hahahahahahahahahahahahaha!