Four elections in five years is too much. I'm about to tune out completely. And I'm a political junkie. I can imagine how the average person feels. It will get to the point where I'm busy on election day and wind up saying "I'll just vote next year." 
Hi everyone (is anyone still reading?). Just a quick update to make an appeal for pledges to my Terry Fox Run. Here's a bit more about Terry Fox and his foundation:
Terry Fox was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and raised in Port Coquitlam, British Columbia, a community near Vancouver on Canada's west coast. An active teenager involved in many sports, Terry was only 18 years old when he was diagnosed with osteogenic sarcoma (bone cancer) and forced to have his right leg amputated 15 centimetres (six inches) above the knee in 1977.
While in hospital, Terry was so overcome by the suffering of other cancer patients, many of them young children, that he decided to run across Canada to raise money for cancer research.
He would call his journey the Marathon of Hope.
After 18 months and running over 5,000 kilometres (3,107 miles) to prepare, Terry started his run in St. John’s, Newfoundland on April 12, 1980 with little fanfare. Although it was difficult to garner attention in the beginning, enthusiasm soon grew, and the money collected along his route began to mount. He ran 42 kilometres (26 miles) a day through Canada's Atlantic provinces, Quebec and Ontario. However, on September 1st, after 143 days and 5,373 kilometres (3,339 miles), Terry was forced to stop running outside of Thunder Bay, Ontario because cancer had appeared in his lungs. An entire nation was stunned and saddened. Terry passed away on June 28, 1981 at the age 22.
The heroic Canadian was gone, but his legacy was just beginning.
To date, more than $400 million has been raised worldwide for cancer research in Terry's name through the annual Terry Fox Run, held across Canada and around the world.
This is Sophie's new brother, Graham. He is a former greyhound champion and all around gentleman. From the looks of things he is adapting well to his new home.
All apologies for the long radio silence from You Can Make It If You Try! It has been a busy couple of months of school and other things. And now we'll likely be away for at least a few more weeks.
Baby and Tigre are about to become legitimate sisters - we are getting married in about six hours. Sadly, the cats are already boarded with Marika's mother, probably loving every minute of it. Tigre already bit Marika's sister and took a nap inside the sheets of the spare bedroom. She was so excited her tail was vibrating like it was being shocked with electricity. What a cat. Baby is behaving herself as usual. 
There will be a few more weeks of silence as we take a holiday. Usual cat broadcasting will continue soon after!
As a way of saving space, we have started to keep Tigre in the closet. 
Ok, I'm only kidding. She has been begging to get into the closet for the last two years. Finally I couldn't take it anymore and created a little compartment for her on the second shelf. She sat and waited for me to rearrange the entire closet and then happily made herself at home. Like all of her projects, Tigre has completely devoted herself to spending time on her little shelf. She retreats there to think, clean, and sleep. It's sort of nice having her tucked out of the way! 
I gave Marika a scarf for Christmas which she had to trim by about six inches. Guess who the little piece fits perfectly! 
A photographic study of Baby trying to get a little bit of sun on every part of her body. 
Baby is crazy about getting into the sunshine, so she is generally pretty depressed all winter without a constant supply.
Today was the first time the sun broke through in the morning, but it only hit the top half of the couch. Baby conquered her fear of doing anything new and wasted no time scrambling up to get a piece of it. 
She was able to balance like this for half an hour before the sun finally went away. Clever little thing! 
We have been unable to find wheatgrass for the cats all winter. Today I finally found it and the cats were overjoyed.
Actually, as always, Tigre only participated because Baby was interested. You can see that Tigre is more interested in being a pain.
After Tigre lost interest and wandered off, Baby really got down to it.
Baby has developed a terrible habit of staring at me all day long. She sits directly behind my chair and looks up at me. I don't know why, I don't know what she wants. The multiple photos are intended to give you an idea of the torment I endure.
I didn't take all these photos at once. This is what she does to me for hours on end. I think she's trying to say "finish your stupid dissertation!" 
Tigre continues her weight loss struggle. Last month we put the big cat tube in the front window so she could spend some time climbing up and down. Here is her inaugural leap. She used to do this so gracefully, but now you can see she has a long way to go.
Victorious! 
We got Baby into the platform action too by finding her a seat of her own. She was so grateful because it allowed her to sit and stare us to death while we eat dinner. 
Baby really prefers lazing around on the couch. Give this cat an inch...
This is Clio, my friend Meg's new dog. If I posted Clio on the blog she agreed to trade me a run of labour journals she stole from an unsuspecting retiring professor. 
This dog is too cute to occur in naturally in the wild. It must be the product of science. Mittens the cat (disgusted looking in the background of the photo) agrees with me. 
Welcome to the big time, Clio!
All Marika ever wanted was for the cats to cuddle each other. It is finally happening. Tigre mostly imposes herself on Baby after she is already settled, but Baby may actualy enjoy the contact too. It is a nice development because it means that Baby shoulders some of the burden of Tigre's emotional needs. 
Baby was amazed this morning by the miracle of Christmas when she discovered her stocking on the couch. 
She was waiting patiently for us to open it for her, but then Tigre arrived for her share of Christmas. 
Tigre doesn't wait, she attacks and savages.
The only member of our household who has any Christmas spirit is Tigre. 
But this is largely because she dreams of destroying the Christmas tree. It occupies 90% of her waking hours (she needs to break to eat.)
Here she is working out the physics of tipping it from up high (note her tats.) 
When that fails she works on the bottom half. 
When she can't figure that out, she takes out her fury on one particular ornament - a small scarecrow from a Wizard of Oz set given to me by my grandma. Tigre hates this ornament above all others. We have had to rescue him several times. 
Before we all lose our heads in the current political crisis, my friend Meg reminded me of one important fact about Prime Minister Stephen Harper. He once held this cute kitten: 
Surely this man should be given the chance to govern as he sees fit.
In the event that Harper was holding this kitten just prior to eating it, I retract the above comments and suggest that the Prime Minister has lost the confidence of our household. Hand the reigns to Stéphane Dion, and fast!
I hope Stephen Harper sees this image in his sleep. He's about to be snookered by a socialist*
* and Jean Chrétien!
Update: 
We are still struggling with Tigre's weight. She never loses any no matter how much she diets. I spoke to the vet today who tentatively suggested that Tigre has some emotional problems. We are going to explore therapy options next week.
Tigre really is an emotional cat. Last night we forgot to give her the last meal of the day. Mind you, Tigre gets fed FIVE times a day so she doesn't feel anxious or worried. Having missed twenty percent of her daily intake, she lashed out at the kleenex box overnight
She made sure to sit in the carnage this morning so we wouldn't mistake the culprit. As if Baby is capable of such destruction Look at her!
Also, here is Tigre modeling one of the hats my sister made me. They look better on humans, but Tigre seemed pleased. Emotional, but cute. 
A long period between updates, but everything is much the same as before. Baby begs for treats and we give them to her just to see her make these faces. 
Meanwhile, Tigre has been depressed. We try to cheer her up with snacks and such, but on this particular day the grey weather sealed her mood and there was no saving her. 
