Happy Halloween!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Today's post might very well be as much of a horror show as what that there kitty is watching. After all, as promised for this spooktacular day, Evan is going to give you all a glimpse of his ghostbusting skills. First, though, we'll remind you all why the ghostbusting was a necessity this Halloween. The kitties and pup have shown you our resident ghost and his crimes a few times this season. Even more instances of his haunting have been collected, though.

First, Evan was regularly photobombed by the specter while he tried to keep an eye on the neighborhood.

Thimble wasn't safe either, as she was regularly photobombed while showing the camera her gorgeous face.

As for Eddy, she just wanted to enjoy her window time in peace. But, alas, she was instead booed.

Though last week Tonks admitted that she may or may not have a tiny crush on our ghostly fiend, sometimes she just wanted a break from his tricks. Even when she tried to hide under the blankets, though, she rarely found herself immune to the not-so-invisible man's invasions.

Our house panther housemates Toby and Winky were also of course victims of the hauntings.

And not even pup Astrid was spared.

Astrid might have tried to laugh off the ghostly nuisance, but mancat Evan was having none of it. Using his skills at ghostbusting, Evan took on the specter so as to save himself and his furry siblings from endless photobombs and haunts.

It was quite a battle, and a blurry one at that, but Evan got the job done. That is, until the ghost had a second wind and tried yet again to pushy his way in as a ghostly photobomber.

Evan was far from happy, having thought he'd already found success, but he quickly gathered himself up and took on the ghostly ghoul yet again.

Evan forced the specter into face slam, as you can tell, but then decided he wanted another photo or two with his defeated captive.

Having learned his lesson after Evan's ghostbusting, not once but twice, the little ghoul admitted his defeat and ceased his photobombing ways. Until next Halloween, that is.

Now, don't mind us as we celebrate Evan's ghostbusting success with some pizza. Feel free to grab yourself a slice.

How about a different form of art now? As we do every year, my mom and I visited a local pumpkin farm that displays hundreds of jack-o'-lanterns for the public to enjoy. It's my goal every year to find pumpkins carved as kitties, pups, and other cute critters. This year I was not disappointed.

That one above was giving me Grumpy Cat vibes, and I was living for it.

My mom and I decided that one's a dinosaur wearing a party hat. Do you agree with our assessment?

Now, a couple of honorable mentions, starting with this pumpkin eating another pumpkin.

And, in honor of Evan's successful ghostbusting this Halloween season, here's this little guy.

I also always carve my own pumpkins each year. Just like last year, all the pumpkins I carved this year are from my parents' pumpkin patch, which brings me so much joy every autumn. First up, two different kinds of cat-o'-lanterns, which are far from my best work.

And, last but not least, these little fellas.

We hope you all enjoyed celebrating Halloween with us!

As we've mentioned before, our celebration will continue on for a couple more days, as the first days of November are admittedly still All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day. So, the spookiness isn't over just yet.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

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Tip of the Day

Our final Halloween tip is to use this spooky holiday as a chance to spend some quality time with your furbaby. Whether you're already staying tucked inside on Halloween night, or whether you wait until after handing out candy, do consider getting cozy and festive with your kitty or pup. For example, you can cozy up with your kitty or pup on the couch and read a spooky story, if that's your kind of thing. Another option is to of course watch a spooky movie or TV show, if that strikes your fancy. Of course, as we mentioned yesterday, do keep in mind your furbaby's sense of hearing and comfort when selecting a scary movie and volume level. For something more calm yet spookily festive, consider sitting down with your furbaby to watch It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, or a certain famous orange tabby in Garfield's Halloween Adventure. Halloween night is of course also the perfect time to not only enjoy yourself some treats (of course without sharing anything toxic for your furbaby!), but to also give your kitty or pup any festive toys or treats that you got for them.

Halloween may sometimes be considered a night filled with tricks and terrors, but you and your furbaby can instead use it to spend some quality time together in a festive yet safe manner. So, cuddle up on the couch and spend some cozy and frightfully festive time with that furbaby! Happy Halloween!

Black Cat Sunday Selfie

Hello and happy day before Halloween! For today's selfie, we have for you some lucky black cats. One is Winky, our house panther housemate. The other is, well, not Winky.

That plushy black kitty is getting nearly as invasive as our ghostly photobomber. Winky doesn't seem to mind, though. After all, she happens to think black cats rock. And I agree.

Speaking of our ghostly photobomber, you'll be seeing lots of him tomorrow. The kitties and pup around here have been documenting all of his unwanted attention, of which you've already seen quite a bit. But, believe it or not, there's even more to be seen, and we'll be sharing with you the rest of those haunted sightings tomorrow. To top it all off, you'll get to see Evan doing some ghostbusting on that photobomber. We have quite the Halloween bash planned for tomorrow, not only involving ghostbusting, but also with some cat-o'-lanterns and other goodies.

We'll see you tomorrow with some frightful fun!

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Halloween Doodle of the Day

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Tip of the Day

If you enjoy watching horror films or other similar movies for Halloween, keep your furbaby in mind when you adjust the volume. As you all certainly know, cats and dogs have impeccable hearing. A noise that sounds normal and tolerable to us might for them sound far more loud and uncomfortable. So, take into consideration your kitty or pup's heightened sense of hearing when watching movies, especially those with loud music, screams, and so forth. If you are watching a loud movie this Halloween, or any day of the year, be sure that your kitty or pup has a quiet area of the home, away from the television, where they can retreat should they wish to.

Caturday Halloween Art

For this reason and that, today's pre-Halloween Caturday Art is not one but two of my favorite flashback Halloween doodles. First up is a rendition of some spooky activities I'll be doing this weekend.

Pumpkins will indeed be carved this weekend, and scary movies will be watched. Of course with the help of plenty of cats. Don't worry, though, despite their best efforts, the kitties are not allowed to play with knives.

Next up, a Halloween scene that is what our Halloween night often looks like. As in, we stay home watching yet more scary movies and eating lots of treats. And we love every second of it.

I'll be honest, you were supposed to be getting a new drawing for this pre-Halloween Caturday. It's even already completed and scanned and ready to go. But, I forgot to schedule the post and didn't realize that until moments ago. I really am the worst blogger these days, but that is something I'm working on fixing this quarter. I enjoy blogging, and I want to get back to being even just a tad bit less horrible at it. All that to say, I always feel like a drawing, especially a festive one, gets halfway wasted when I fail to share it until late in the day. My brain just has weird thoughts like that. Anyway, all that to say that you'll be getting freakily festive doodles tomorrow and Monday, that being Halloween itself. And I'll actually double and triple check that those post are scheduled. 

Oh, and Halloween isn't going to just end after Monday. At least not on our blog. In some cultures or religions, the holiday only begins on All Hallows' Eve, that being October 31. The holiday is often celebrated into the early days of November as well. This is the case with Día de los Muertos, for example. So, be prepared to see more Halloween goodies into the early days of November. Especially when things are busy and I feel like the season flies by, I can't help but extend it as far as I can.

Happy Caturday, friends!

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Tip of the Day

If you think it might be fun and festive for your furbaby to get in the Halloween spirit with a chocolaty treat, consider getting them some goodies made with carob. Carob is a chocolate alternative, and it can give items such as candy and baked goods an appearance and even flavor that is similar to chocolate. What's more, carob does not contain the component found in real chocolate that is toxic to cats and dogs. There are carob pet treats on the market, and even items such as cookies for furbabies are sometimes made with carob. So, if you think your kitty or pup might enjoy some chocolaty treats of their own while you enjoy some candy on Halloween, then consider the safe and festive alternative that is carob.

Friendly Fill-Ins and Photo Fails

Hello, friends! It's time for the Friendly Fill-Ins challenge, and we'd love for you to join us. My wonderful co-host Ellen of 15andmeowing came up with the first two fill-in statements, and I came up with the second two.


1. _________ keeps me up at night.

2. If I could improve one of my senses, it would be _________.

3. If I were home alone and heard footsteps in the house, I would _________.

4. I would want the epitaph on my tombstone to say _________.

My answers are below in bold.

1. Thimble keeps me up at night.
(My little tabby named Thimble doesn't understand what bedtime means. Rather than taking it as a chance to cozy up, cuddle, and fall asleep, she thinks a human lying in bed means said humans is looking to be stomped all over, most especially in the throat. Thimble's also a fan of poking her snoozing human in the face, mostly aiming for the eyes and mouth. That said, I love Thimble to pieces and wouldn't change a thing about her. I'll sleep when I'm dead.)

2. If I could improve one of my senses, it would be my sixth sense.
(I'm not all that unhappy with any of my regular five senses, but I am less than impressed with my sixth sense. It needs to work a little harder, because it has yet to give me the proper foresight to win the lottery. Do better, sixth sense. At least it hasn't forced on me any gory ghosts, like the poor kid in the movie by the same name.)

3. If I were home alone and heard footsteps in the house, I would assume it was cat.
(My family and I often joke that, with a ton of cats running around the house, we'd never even know if an intruder came in. I am so used to hearing weird sounds in my house every hour of the day because of the 6 resident cats, that I don't know if I'd even believe it if I heard misplaced human footsteps. I've thought I've heard concerning things in the past, and it's always just been a cat doing whatever random activity they thought would be fun at the time. It's nothing to boast about, but at this point, I barely even bat an eye when I hear weird sounds in my house.)

4. I would want the epitaph on my tombstone to say, "She came. She saw. She was conquered by a ton of cats."

(Or something like that. It's not like it's a lie.)

Now it's your turn!

To add your link to the Friendly Fill-Ins Linky list, just click HERE!

You can also click on the badge below to add your link.

You are also welcome to complete the fill-ins in the comments below,

or in the comments on Ellen's blog, 15andmeowing.

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And now it's time for the Pet Photo Fails Blog Hop, hosted by none other than Melissa and Mudpie of Melissa's Mochas, Mysteries, & Meows.

Our resident blooper queen Eddy of course has some outtakes to share. And you better believe that this week they co-star a certain ghostly someone. To kick it off, Eddy decided to turn away and effectively chop her head off in this first one.

Then, she went for a classic blurry face.

Can you see someone else in the background of that one? Here, this next one is in part a blooper because of Thimble's scowling photobomb in the background.

Eddy's not sure she likes sharing the spotlight with that pesky ghost or her sister Thimble, but even so, she hopes you enjoyed her outtakes!

Happy Friday, friends!

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Halloween Doodle of the Day

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Tip of the Day

We mentioned yesterday considering getting your kitty or pup a festive new toy as a Halloween treat and distraction, of course as long as said toy is safe for your furbaby to use. Similarly, you can typically find your furbaby some Halloween treats of the edible kind. Some companies come out with specialty holiday treats, for example. In addition, many pet stores will sell cookies, at least those for pups, and oftentimes such cookies will include those designed and decorated for certain holidays, including Halloween.

You don't just have to go for store-bought goodies in order to give your kitty or pup something festive and tasty on days like Halloween, though. There are a great many treat recipes available online, including those festively made with pumpkin or those simply cut into festive shapes. I've even seen people go for simple yet effective holiday treats that merely include cutting a wedge of paté canned food into a festive shape, such as a pumpkin.

Many of the options for festive treats are aimed toward aesthetics that humans rather than furbabies will appreciate, but as long as the ingredients are safe, your kitty or pup can enjoy a tasty Halloween treat just as well. So, check labels or recipe ingredients to ensure any treats you select are safe for your individual furbaby, and then let them chow down on a festive Halloween treat on Halloween night. Of course, if your furbaby has any ailments or you have any concerns about feeding your kitty or pup certain treats, do consult your veterinarian.