True love.....

Entry #3 - Orangey Tail.

This matronly cat is already a queen, but not necessarily a Beauty Queen.  Big Kitty, King of the Mansion, chose OT as his favorite girl a long time ago.  They hang out together, eat side by side and sometimes he even gives her a hug.

She won the Whisker Growing Contest two years ago, and would be absolutely ecstatic to win this contest.

No worries, OT.  If you don't win, Big Kitty will love you anyway. :)

What a beauty!!

Beauty Pageant Entry #2!

Pinkerton, Hillside Warrior
and Defender of all Cats that are Pink.

Pinkerton is a lovely rose - orange color, giving him a pinkish hew.  He was taken from Fox Farm as a child, and has grown to be a magnificent tom.  Surprisingly, he is almost tame and stops for the odd back rub.  Just don't try to pick him up! 

Pretty as a picture!!

Contestant #1:  Today, we'll call him "Little Orangey Green Eyes, because those spruce needles accent his eyes so well.

He's a contestant in our 1st Annual Cat Beauty Contest. 

This cat was born at Fox Farm, stolen from it's mother and relocated to Barn Cat Mansion.  For months, we thought he was a female.

We were wrong!!

He's a dark burnt orange color and sports large tabby stripes on his body.  Beautiful, thick dark and light tail rings make him truly unique in this field of simple striped tabbies.

Mirror, mirror on the wall....

We're having a Beauty Pageant at Barn Cat Mansion and Fox Farm.  There are ten contestants, five from FF and five from BCM, and these are the rules:
     1.  No house cats allowed
     2.  Either sex is eligible.
The two most beautiful cats from each group will be finalists.  A Beauty Queen and a Beauty Princess will be crowned.  We have an independent judge to select the top four beauties and fans will be asked to vote for the two most beautiful cats.

BTW, this is Pinkerton and you guessed it!
He's in the pageant!!

It's not that cold!!

Well, the game is over.  Maybe the cats had a legitimate beef about Holly stepping up to the plate and scoring a goal.......maybe not.  Granted, she wasn't on the roster, but then the cat that WAS on the roster didn't remember to play, or....

maybe he got COLD FEET!!

In any case, if you're going to win the game, you at least have to get your feet wet and play like you've never played before.  In Canada, you can't let a little snow ruin your game!!

The End!!

And the cats cried

FOUL!!!   FOUL!!!

And the horses yelled

The whistle blew!!  Lets play hockey!! 

If you cats don't want to get your feet wet and play hockey, we don't care!!

....and Holly quickly moved the ball directly to the wall in "cat territory".  With a quick flick of her nose, the horses won the game!!

Play ball!!!

Wouldn't ya know it!!

A freak snowstorm blew through immediately prior to Big Kitty blowing the whistle to resume play.

Whiskers was in charge of snow removal and it only took a few minutes to brush the flakes to the edge.   He cleared a path and placed the ball on the center line, ready for play to start.
One item of interest:  Whiskers used to look like a female cat.  Now we see that he's not. 

Wouldn't ya know it!!

May the best ??? win!!

We found it!  It's a shiny new penalty box.

The Trough Hockey game will resume this morning  and the Second Period could be the last.

For those who missed it, we have a score:

Team Equine 1       Team Feline  0

BCM cats go into the remaining seconds of the Second Period down by one. 

What time is it?!!!

Big Kitty confiscated the ball and placed it behind his back, or butt........whatever!!

It's "time out"  until the cats get their s**t together.  Really, how difficult is it to select a good hockey playing cat and designate that cat to play for the team.

Team Equine is on the verge of winning the Orange-y Bowl.  All they need is one more goal.

Maybe that's the way the cats planned it.  Maybe it's nap time, or supper time or some other time that makes cats lose their train of thought and just fugedaboudit!

Pick a cat, any cat!!

It was a last minute "bait and switch"!!

We thought Echo was playing for the horses, when suddenly, The Grinch took possession of the ball and proceeded to push it into Team Feline's territory.  H"C"S watched in horror as no one stepped up to play for the cats.

C'mon Cats.  Get in the game!!

Suddenly the whistle blew.......again!!

STOP THE GAME!!  If it takes two to tango, it sure as heck takes two to play Trough Hockey.

Fraternizing with the enemy!!

A new Penalty Box was located.  Timbit sat in it for the allotted 20 seconds to clear the penalty board for Barn Cat Mansion.

The Second Period is about to begin and Big Kitty says Echo, not the Grinch, will represent Team Equine.  It's not clear who is representing Team Feline.  It might be the Big Kitty himself.

Black Panther is at the horse end of the Trough discussing strategy with Holly, a horse that isn't even playing.
No wonder these cats can't win.  They don't even know whose team they're on!!

We need a new box!!

The cats are in trouble!!  And, this time its serious!!

First of all, someone trashed the penalty box.

Secondly, the box is an integral part of the game.

Thirdly, the cats have been assessed a Delay of Game, or DoG Penalty for trashing the box.

Fourthly, if the box is trashed, where can a cat sit to serve a penalty?

An annual event!

Happy Valentine's Day
Every year, BCM throws a party on February 14th.

WHY?

Because Big Kitty says,
        
 "LET'S HAVE A PARTY!!!"

Pick one......

The horse on the left seems to have a Grinch on her head, meaning that white stripe looks kind of like the Grinch.  For the game, if she's chosen to play, we'll call her "Mr. Grinch".  Keep in mind, that's not her real name.

The other horse is Echo.  She might be a better choice because she's not "a mean one".

Regardless of which horse is chosen, there's an enormous problem to be rectify.  The penalty box has been DESTROYED!!  So we've called a

Time Out For Valentine's Day!!

Call up a horse!!

When you hear the whistle, Period Two of the game will begin.  In the meantime, Flag shows LOygBE a few fine points of moving the ball.  He remembers everything BK told him.  But most of all, he tells the student:

"Keep your eyes on the ball."

Tipster must have chosen the stripey orange cat as "second" player, but who's up for the horse team?

We didn't even know selection had begun!!

It's over here!!

Round 2, or maybe we should call it the Second Period of the Trough Hockey
game is about to begin.

There's one big problem!!

They've lost the ball.  Somebody totally forgot to put the ball away after Hockey Practise.

Its a good thing this photographer found it lying in a long forgotten snowdrift!!

This is sooooo boring!!

For a month now, Pinkerton has watched the antics of Trough Hockey, and he's not impressed.

He says, "Let's get back to the Sports Field and stage a few races.  This herd of cats needs a little speed in their lives!!"

WHOAAA there, Pinkerton!!

We still have two periods of Trough Hockey, so don't get your tail in a knot.

Temper, temper!!!

Chick's been watching all of this hullabaloo over Trough Hockey with trepidation.  She knows what happens when those BCM cats lose.

THEY COME UNGLUED!!!

There will be two more rounds in the
Orange - y Bowl of Trough Hockey, so the cats still have a chance.  Right now the score is horses 1, cats 0.

Chick just wishes she and Blue would be called to play.  Dogs play with balls too, you know!!  They could be the "Farm Team".

Practise makes perfect!!

Big Kitty took over the duty of coaching Flag, only because this little grayish black cat NEEDS some coaching.  Who better to encourage concentration than the Big Kitty himself.  BK moved the ball a few times, then turned it over.  He instructed Flag to disregard any flying objects, dead or alive.
Put BOTH eyes on the ball and use your "paw/eye" co-ordination to maintain control of the ball until you reach Team Equine's goal, then

PUSH THE BALL TO THE WALL!!

Keep your eye on the ball!!

Following the devastating loss to Team Equine, OT and H"C"S ordered

"hockey practise".

The cats are going to have to pull up their socks if they want to win the next round.  It's not acceptable for a player to be distracted by a simple sparrow.  Every cat must concentrate on the game.  After all, a round only lasts for 10 seconds. How hard is it to focus for a measly 10 seconds?

Cat in the box!!

If you've ever been in the penalty box, you'll know its not a great place to be.
Flag spent 20 seconds in the box for a serious infraction and he didn't like it one bit.

Timbit jumped in after Flag jumped out.

She wanted to see what the big problem was with "the penalty box".  Yes, its a bit tattered and torn, but you don't go there to have fun.  Its a punishment for bad behavior.

Timbit thinks Flag is a sissy!!!

Abnormal behavior??

Timbit retrieved the ball and passed it over to The Tipster.  He got tired of waiting for Flag's release from the penalty box, so flopped over on his side to take a rest.

Flag was penalized for 20 seconds.

But we've noticed something strange about the only neutered cat at BCM.

He is L A Z Y !!!

He's kind of thick around the middle, and never puts much energy into his daily life.

Is this behavior normal?!!!

Sore loser!!

Flag is now in the Penalty Box!!!

20 seconds for Unsportsmanlike Conduct,
or UnSMLC for short.

When the whistle blew, he sunk his claws into the red ball and flung it out of the Trough Hockey trough.

Timbit ran to quickly retrieve it.

Horses win

.......Flag whirled around and tried to get to the ball.

He was about to put a paw on it when

the dreaded whistle blew

to end the round!!

Score:   TH  1        TF  0

The suspense is unbearable!!

This is what we know so far.....

Little Eagle took possession of the ball and rolled it to his end of the trough.

Flag ran along and was about to use a paw on it when a sparrow flew past the Trough Hockey trough.
The cat turned his attention to the bird!
Little Eagle nosed the ball into position!

Team Equine was about to win the round when suddenly.....

10 seconds left!!

A few  rules we forgot to mention:

1:  Each round will last a total of 10 seconds.
2:  Whoever is in possession of the ball when
      the whistle blows will receive one (1)
      point for their team.
3:  Possession for Team Equine is defined  
      as "having a nose close to the ball"
4:  Possession for Team Feline is defined as
      "having a paw close to the ball"

Tipster placed the ball and quickly ran for his life.

Pre-game highlights!

We have more rules to go over, but Player Selection has begun, so we'd better catch up.  Flag isn't orange, but we'll bend the rules and allow him to play.  Here, he struts his stuff for the only male player on Team Equine.  He's hoping to have Little Eagle for an opponent, since this horse has no experience playing Trough Hockey.

Flag is trying to intimidate Little Eagle with his sheer strength and good looks.  On the other hand, the horse is attempting to sedate the cat with soothing breath emanating from his ultra soft nose.  It works on humans, so it should work on cats too.