Allan is 1! I appologize if anyone finds this post sickening and over the top. . .

I have been trying to write this since yesterday evening but the website was malfunctioning. We just returned from a weekend in South Dakota which will be my next subject, but I had to have a tribute to Allan for his birthday, which is June 6th. We know his birthday because he was born the Humane Society and they keep track of those things. Facebook reminded me that Allan shares his birthday with my aunt, Barb! Barb is a regular reader. . .Barb, if you are reading this read to the end for a special surprise!

Something is not quite right with Blogger right now. . .I don't know why the font is like this, underlined. . .I will possibly try to fix this later. (I just tried to fix it and it seems that I have created a link. When I clicked it the photo opened in a web page. I don't know how I did it! Disregard. . .)We made Allan this dumb little hat last night. What a waste of time. Also, he didn't like it at all. In that photo I am holding him tightly against his will to keep him from ripping it off of his head. I caught him in a still moment and plopped in on to take a quick picture. It was a lucky shot.

This is how he really feels about his birthday hat!

I have so many pictures of him! Many are from my camera, several are from my phone, such as the one below, where Allan is perched on top of the refrigerator.

He thinks he's "King in the Castle"!

He thinks he can sit wherever he wants. (Wait, he can!)

I love this picture! Justin took it with his phone and sent it to me. I was sitting just out of the shot on the love seat. He looks like a dignified teenager!

This is a favorite of mine. It was the photo shown on the Humane Society website. I never actually saw him this little, but it is fun to have at least one "baby" photo! It makes me smile every time I see it. . .especially his googly eyes! His ears look big!

This was taken on one of the first nights he was at our house! He was snuggly right from the start! When I opened the pet carrier in the kitchen he came out and hopped right into my lap. He was purring but also trembling, so I knew he was scared. He was instantly loveable for that reason. The next day, I took a nap on the couch and he curled up next to me. When I woke up around 30 minutes later he was still next to me! I knew he was here to stay after that.

He has always been curious and loves to look out the windows!

I love this shot. He is laying on a towel. Towels are a favorite textile of his, so his beds are layered with old towels.

I took this picture a few weekends ago. I was laying on the bed in our guest room talking on the phone and he came and made himself comfortable (he kneaded my abdominal area before settling in, of course! His feet and neck look huge! Happy birthday, "Al Pal, Kitten, Buddy, Snuggler"! We hope we have you for many more birthdays!

Also, happy birthday Barb! Barb is married to my dad's brother, so I don't have any young photos of her prior to the late 1970's because, of course, I haven't been to her relative's houses with my scanner and laptop, but I have some from the "Skjo" archives!

Here is Barb as a young mom, amidst the excess of our family Christmas (it looks much the same today, almost 30 years later. . .mountains of presents, empty boxes, people croweded on the floor. . .imagine the chaos with 9 kids instead of 1!)

Here is a wedding photo, and the wedding is the perfect image of late 1970's eleagance. Before the awfulness of the mid-1980's, after the regretable pastel tuxes and ruffles of the earlier 1970's. . .my grandma wore the same dress for my parents wedding. You can see it in my late-March post about wedding dresses. What?? Who wouldn't take advantage of any excuse to buy a new dress?? Haha, anyway, happy birthday Barb! What could be a better gift that being able to view a bunch of pictures of my cat?