Tails from Africa: Part Four

The Conclusion

The magic flying van safely returned Opus, Roscoe, Karl, Ruis, Momo, and Sassy to the lodge. With curiosity about to the kill the cats, Opus and Rosoce asked Karl and Ruis how is was they came in 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 excitement flashing in 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 van, making sure it wasn't about to leave again.

(photo 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....

Tails from Africa: Part Three

Opus, Roscoe, Momo and Sassy called out for help, but their cries were muffled by the sand. Just when they thought they were about use up another one of their nine lives, something appeared on the horizon; something beautiful, something wonderful, something magical....



The magic flying arrived just as the fabulous four were about to sink under the sand completely, with none other than friends Karl and Ruis at the wheel. With ropes tied firmly to the bumper, the magical van hovered over the quicksand pit as Karl and Ruis called to their friends, instructing them to reach out and grab a hold of the ropes.


Carefully but quickly, the magical van lifted the felines out of the sand and out of harms way. With Sassy, Momo, Opus, and Roscoe clinging to the ropes, Karl and Ruis directed the magical, flying van back to the lodge.

Does this mean that Karl and Ruis 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)

Tails from Africa: Part Two

Thousands of miles away, friends Ruis and Karl were fast sleep. While catnapping Karl dreamt that he and Ruis were sole excutives at CCSI; some how Roscoe, Momo, Opus and Sassy had disapeared from hit show all together. Awaking from his terrible nightmare, with his heart pounding and paws shaking, he called Ruis to tell him of the dream.



"I just had the SAME dream!", Ruis excliamed in sheer disbelief. "Something must be wrong in Africa. We had better get back there."

And with that Karl and Ruis rushed to Africa, arriving just in time to find their friends almost completely submerged in quicksand. They immediately rushed to the aide of Momo, Sassy, Opus, and Roscoe.




But just as they were lowering the basket to save their 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, Karl and Ruis were forced to retreat.

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

Waiting for Karl and Ruis to come up with another idea,

the four cats quickly sank deeper into the quicksand....

TO BE CONTINUED

Tails from Africa: Part One

Today the group decided to have a quiet day. They found a nice spot in the grass shaded by trees, spread out a blanket and just took it easy. As Sassy worked on her blog the wind kicked up, sending Roscoe's hat tumbling into the air. Sassy pounced to grab it, throwing herself off balance and landing (with her laptop and Roscoe's hat) in a pool of quick sand.



Roscoe, not thinking his rescue plan through, immediately jumped in while throwing his paws around Sassy in an effort to save her. Quickly they both started sinking.


Excitedly Momo sprang to her feet and grabbed a near by life preserver. Underestimating her own straight and pumped up with adrenaline, she threw the life preserver into the pool of quicksand. But Momo threw the life preserver so hard that she threw herself off balance and tumbled into the quicksand as well.


Watching his three friends sinking, Opus knew he had to act fast. Quickly he climbed on top of the "Danger" sign and lowered a rope down with his tail. Without a second to waste, he ordered his three friends to grab a hold of the rope at once.


With all of his might, Opus used his tail to pull his friends to safely. But those extra cookies Roscoe had eaten at lunch proved to be too much; the rope (or Opus's tail) broke, sending all four cats tumbling down into the quicksand.



With Karl and Ruis back at home, there was no one around to hear their cries for help. One by one they sank deeper and deeper into the sand....

Could this be the end of Sassy, Momo, Opus and Roscoe?
Could CCSI loose half of its excutives from one small mistake?
Is there anyone out there to save these four from their sandy graves?

Wordless Wednesday

(photo by Sassy, sign edited by Karl)

Another Day in Africa

This morning we said good bye to Karl and Ruis as they headed to their homes. We were sorry to see them go, but happy to have had them spend some time with us in Africa.

After we parted ways, we decided to do a little bird watching. But that came to a quick end when Roscoe spotted a hot air balloon in the sky. Thinking it sounded like a good time, he quickly rented a balloon and we all climbed in.

The views were breath-taking as the African plains stretched out below us. It was nice to see all of the wild animals without having to worry about becoming lunch.



Roscoe leaned a little too far over the edge of the basket and managed to tumble out. Thank goodness that Sassy was quick on her paws. She grabbed Roscoe and pulled him back into safety.

It was a wonderful afternoon spent
relaxing and enjoying the views.

Happy Noms Day!

Our friends at the Cat Realm have done a wonderful job at getting us animals to reach out and befriend animals of all types. Here is what they have to say about "Not of My Species" day:

"Today we are celebrating Noms Day, a holiday to remember that all beings are equal, to remind ourselves to be tolerant towards everybody, to reach out across species, cultures, nationalities, religions, languages, beliefs and appearances and to come together and embrace our differences."

We are in Africa making all kinds of NOMS friends. We hope that you do the same and make a new friend today (or celebrate the NOMS friends you already have).

Happy NOMS Day!

Safe & Sound

In hot tub: Opus & Momo
Back row: Roscoe, Karl & Sassy
In lodge: Ruis
Resting up after our adventure with the natives we start to make plans for the next trip out.

Rescued!

We are all safe and rescued by Karl and Ruis. There was a misunderstanding that it all. Glad Karl and Ruis showed up when they did.



Enjoying a friendly lunch with the native tribe, food courtesy of Karl & Ruis.


Roscoe dancing with his new found native friends.

Photos by Karl

Native Tribe Visit

Today didn't go so well . . .

. . . meeting up with the native tribe . . .

. . . we didn't ask what they were serving for supper! We will get in touch with you when we can!!

Photos by Sassy

In The Field Day Two

Excitement was the word of the day. Maggy and Zoey visited us for a search of the elephants!



. . . great friends, great food, and . . .

. . . great fun!

Photos by Sassy

Africa Day Two

Photo by Sassy

Today, with our guide and driver, we ventured out into South Africa armed only with our cameras. We met up with some friendly lions and made friends with them, we found out that we have a lot in common.




You can all see that we have a full schedule, we had better get some rest tonight.

Settling In

Photo by Sassy

We arrived safely in South Africa at the Amakhala Game Reserve. We took most of the day finding our way through the jungle, finding the hotel, and unpacking. Tomorrow we will venture out with our guides to see if we can find a pride of lions.

On Our Way

Another day of traveling for us. We took a little catnap on the plane ride to Rome. There weren't any good moives playing, so we don't think we missed anything.



Some of our friends have asked if we fly with an Italian passport or an American one. Though we live in (and love) Italy, we are 100% red-blooded American cats. We live in Italy with a resident visa, but we are still citizens of America (like our human). For that reason, we have American passports.

We met up with Sassy and Momo at the airport, where we boarded a private jet to take us to Africa.
After a big meal and in-flight moive (The Cat in the Hat) Roscoe and Momo fell asleep. Sassy and I used the quiet time to catch up on some reading.

But it wasn't long before our eyes grew heavy and we also snuggle down for a nice cat nap.

It won't be much longer till land in Africa!

OPUS

Vacation Time

This summer our grandparents are visiting us in Italy. Unfortunately they didn't come to Italy for catnaps and would rather tour around the country, taking in the sights. Our humans thought that they could just leave us at home alone, but they should know better. Sassy has invited us to join her and Momo on a trip to Africa, complements of Ruis and Karl.

We spent the night getting our bags ready....

... and then we rested up for our big trip. Since our flying van is still missing, we were forced to take a plane to Rome.




From there, we will meet Sassy and Momo for the last leg of our trip, a plane ride to Africa. We won't be around much to visit our friends or leave comments, but we will be checking in from time to time and leaving posts about our adventures when we can.

We will come by to visit you when our humans get back and are less busy. In the meantime, we wish you all a wonderful summer and will see you again in August!

Love,
Opus and Rosoce

Home Alone

The humans are dumping us this week. They are off to Venice and have decided to leave us home. Don't they know that we KNOW Venice???? We would have made excellent tour guides.



No matter much fun they have, it will NEVER be as fun as we had there during carnival. See you guys at the end of the week.....

Remembering Emil

You are all invited to a wake for Emil. Please come by to help us celebrate the life of our friend. Gone too soon, we will remember him always with love and great fondness. Stop by "Remembering Emil" to post your favorite memory and photo of Emil or you can simply leave a comment for his family.

The wake starts today and will go on through out the weekend.