Just stretching out for a bit of a snooze. All these fabulous Christmas pictures taken by Nicky, aged 14 move over Chris theres a new photographer on the block.
 

Of course Lizzie was feeling sleepy too �.
 

And then after Chris stopped mauling me I just needed a bit of a rest on the deck
 

Hi Bob here on Christmas Day in New Zealand .
I�d just like to wish every one a happy Christmas .
Here I am after my enormous breakfast of bacon and eggs and 2 cups of tea .
 

More on Monty by Bob

Hi Bob here , Chris says I have to get on with this story so here goes .

Monty headed west and after a few days of roughing it found somewhere rather more cozy and warm for a nice sleep. Unfortunately for Monty her luck just ran out as she had in fact snuggled up in a renovated basement that was about to be sealed up.
For seven days Monty was trapped under the house, her night vision goggles gave out and although she had plenty to say about it and was feeling rather weak and VERY thirsty nobody came to her rescue .
Then there was some banging and daylight but Monty was too weak to make a run for it and found herself locked in a garage.
Mean time the owner of the house had gone off to the supermarket to get some cat food and while there looked through the hundreds of notices and found the one left by Monty’s people two weeks earlier .
Even though it was late he called them but they found it very difficult to understand the caller because English wasn’t his first language , possibly not even his second ! But he was very insistent so they got in the car dressed in their pajamas and drove half across town; and the rest as they say is history .

Word on the street is that Monty has not been going far from home after her 17 day adventure and has hung up her night vision goggles and disguise and is getting her GPS unit serviced.

Lady Penelope Montague (at home at last !)

Wow , what can I say but cool , hey wait a minute , that looks like Lizzie as the model , am I not good looking enough ? Arh yes, I forgot I am the one with brains .

Christmas is coming yipeeeee

Hi Bob here , just had to show you the Christmas tree that Chris and Reena made us !!

More on the Monty saga by Bob Ace reporter for Cat network news

Hi Bob here reporting .

When Monty woke from what seemed but a small sleep in some shrubs but which turned out to be almost the entire day she realised that progress had not been good thus far and so despite the nagging feeling of hunger she decided to wait till the cover of darkness was available and then make a push in the direction of home.

Unfortunately Montys GPS unit was failing and instead of going north she continued to go west.

That night it wasn’t long before she found herself faced with a major obstacle, otherwise known as Great South Road with a traffic volume according to Chris who claims to know such things of 31,600 vehicles per day . Hell that’s only a vehicle every three seconds on average so there should be plenty of time for Monty to cross the six lanes .
Monty had failed her paper in “Risk Assessment” at cat danger school otherwise she would also have realised the weakness of my recent calculations.

But as luck would have it there are in fact less cars at night so with that casual air that we cats are able to display while traveling at something approaching the speed of sound Monty looked both ways (not) and then in a blur found herself safely on the other side .

The story continues by Bob

Hi Bob here for Cat Network News, humble apologies for the break in transmission , this was due to a technical fault with my web surf Chris, who says and I’m not sure I believe this , he was working on his Christmas letter… sure buddy , priorities priorities .

So Ok Monty’s in the McDuck , time to look pathetic and under-fed.
Success and so a pleasant evening was had eating burger filling , yes cheese is an acceptable cat food.
Then it was away, don the disguise, pick up the equipment and forge on with the search for home ( I know it's here somewhere) .
Meanwhile Monty’s people arrive back from their trip to the news that there has been a break-out at the cat hotel. There begins a street search , they rope in their friends , they put up posters, they visit the local vet , they put up a tiny notice in the supermarket , they visit the SPCA , the Council , but no sign .

Meanwhile Monty has crossed one of the busiest roads in the city, her cat GPS has let her down badly at this point and she’s heading west , home is actually 20km north and on the other side of a harbour ……

The amazing story of Lady Penelope Montague (Monty) by Bob , Ace reporter for Cat network News. Part 3 Hamburgers

It was here that Monty began 17 days of adventure and freedom.

With her night vision goggles still working well Monty set off north according to her built-in Cat GPS unit.

There was something vaguely familiar about this whole area even the smell of hamburgers wafting from the local McDucks .

BUT WAIT with that smell Monty realised she was hungry and stopped in her tracks and headed in the opposite direction towards the smell of burnt hamburgers , somehow the smell was irresistible.

There was suddenly a huge rumbling noise and a click , clack , click , clack ,click , click , clack and Monty remembered that she was beside the big iron pathway to lots of places and which was very easy on the paws to walk on .

Then in a jiffy she was there, cat food heaven and there were plenty of suckers (sorry customers) in the outside eating area . Monty stashed her night vision goggles and other equipment and slipped through the metal swing door neatly and unsuspectingly twirled around a customers legs .........

The amazing story of Lady Penelope Montague (Monty) by Bob , Ace reporter for Cat Network News.

It was a dark night. Luckily Monty’s night vision goggles (made from toilet rolls, a pipe cleaner and a broken transistor radio) worked perfectly. She collected the clothing, food and map she had been hiding in the exercise yard and quickly slipped on her collar as a disguise.Monty crept forward, keeping low to the ground and moving only as the sound of passing vehicles and trains muffled the sound of her paws on the leaves. Then as she cut through the perimeter fence she was spotted by the eagle eyed prison guard (Hotel owner) who had come outside for a smoke . It became a race against time with Monty cutting and the owner running in slow motion shouting NNNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO !!! Too late - Monty was through……………..

This is Bob for Cat Network News

Lady Penelope Montague
 

The amazing (and mostly true) story of Lady Penelope Montague (Monty) by Bob , Ace reporter for Cat Network News.

Hi Bob here I‘d like to share with you an amazing story of cat bravery and resourcefulness.

One day Montys people (names withheld to protect the innocent) decided they needed to travel for two weeks so after much soul searching they put Monty in a Cat hotel near where they used to live because they felt she would be more comfortable there as she had stayed before.

However Monty being highly resourceful decided it was high time to test the security of the Cat Hotel which had not been breached in 15 years.

The comings and goings of the Hotel owners was noted, security systems observed and then plans drawn up for a daring escape.

Under cover of darkness Monty armed only with a pair of wire cutters made in the hotel workshop from a cloths peg and a cat food can made her break for freedom. …to be continued

This is Bob for Cat Network News.

What can I say but YAWN
 

I have found this very cosy place in the garden where I am very hard to find even though I am in full view. We Ocicats have our very own camouflage !
 

Just to show how reformed we are here is Lizzy demonstrating her tomato defense technique .
 

Now that our two week grounding is finished after the "who sniffed the catmint and posted it on the internet" episode we have been assigned to the task of guarding the tomato patch  

At this point she became completely incoherent����.
 

Lizzy hits the cat mint 

Lizzy checking that the coast is clear before we have a roll in the cat mint  

Here is Lizzy REALLY trying to get that moving red dot, note that I am casually waiting for my moment . 

Action shot  

Well here we are finally at the big party event "get the spot".
We made Chris promise to capture the whole thing .
As you can see Lizzy is heading in his direction to give him a few pointers on night time photography.

Lizzy checks out the new swimming pool and its fishy inhabitants after a successful reverse emergency bucket transfer at the weekend.

Luckily Chris was unable to capture me on video taking a wet face-plant in the former temporary fish accommodation, OK so I thought the trough was empty and I just leapt in , an easy mistake. I'm a stunt cat sometimes things go wrong !!

Now all the construction is finished and the deck cleared the way is open for the great red spot catching challenge, we have been limbering on the lounge carpet during the add breaks on TV . I don't know where it comes from , there's just that "click".

Happy Birthday Fiona !!!!

Happy Birthday to Fiona , Happy birthday to you , hhaaappy birthday dearrrrrrr Fiona , Happy birthday to you . ..........21 on the 20th . Wow thats old .

Sorry about the crazed look , there was a blinding flash that's all I remember !.

Love from Bob and Lizzy .

Here I demonstrate the correct fishing technique, four feet on the ground and Lizzy note do NOT place your back feet on the pond edge !!!
 

Lizzy looking a little wet after her impromptu dip !
 

Lizzy has developed this real thing for fish food. This is what happened when she tired to scoop it off the top of the temporary pond, whoops, not quite the firm footing she was expecting. All the foreign friends (just out of frame) fell over laughing.

Chris has been visting Granda Pa and Granda Ma but now he's back things are progressing on the pond rebuilding . Here I am supervising . 

I check out pond reconstruction progress 

Where the pond was...whoops, note the "rescue bucket"