December 16, 1998: We have a new litter! Today Santa Fe gave birth to four beautiful little boys; their father is Flap. Much to our surprise and pleasure, there were three blue classic tabbies, as well as one brown classic tabby. We are still hoping one or more of them will suddenly become female (hey, Madison did it!) but so far they all look decidedly male...
December 12, 1998: We are thrilled and proud to announce the first Pinecoon CFA Grand! Pinecoon's Kiss Me Kate of Smokeycoons, who is already a TICA Supreme Grand Champion, completed the requirements for CFA Grand Champion at today's CFA show in Monroe, WA. Our congratulations (and thanks!) to Kate's owners, Fred and Elaine Weitz. Way to go, Kate!!!
December 6, 1998: Susannah and Moxie did beautifully at the TICA show in Seattle this weekend. Susannah earned her Double Grand Championship (yay!!). And Moxie finalled in all ten rings, with 45 kittens competing, and was Best Kitten in Show! (Although Madison went to the show, she was very unhappy about it, so we pulled her again. No more shows for Maddy... she gets to stay home and boss everyone else around instead...)
November 30, 1998: Torri and Betsy went to big shows two weekends in a row, and boy, are we tired!! Torri, Susannah, and Moxie went to the CanAm show in Bellingham, WA, on November 20. All three did very well; Torri was 2nd Best Alter in Show, and Susannah earned her Championship and three finals towards her Grand. Tira and Caliente were there too, and also did very well. And on Thanksgiving weekend, Torri and Betsy went to a 3-day show in Pleasanton, CA. Torri did well there, too; she finalled in nearly every ring and was 4th Best Alter in Show.
November 15, 1998: Santa Fe is definitely pregnant! (Yaaaaay!!!). The expectant father is Flap. Santa Fe is due sometime in mid-December.
October 11, 1998: Torri, Susannah, Madison, Moxie, and Tiramisu attended the TICA show in Seattle this weekend. Susannah and Moxie each earned a Best Kitten award, as well as numerous other finals. Maddy got four very nice finals, but no Best; she was pretty grumpy on Sunday, so we pulled her from the last few rings (sigh...). We were especially proud of our "high white" baby, Tiramisu, who got two Best Allbreed Kitten awards and a bunch of other finals, and went home with Richelle Godfrey; her new name is Pinecoon's Material Girl of Luvpaws. And we got to visit with Moxie's litter brother, Pinecoon's Lord Alexander (aka Apple Dumpling), who also got a kitten final at this show (he was looking mighty handsome, if I do say so myself).
This same weekend, Caliente went to a TICA show in Chicago show with her new mom, Laura Cunningham. We're told she did pretty well -- on Sunday she finalled in five out of six rings!
September 28, 1998: Torri, two of her grandkittens, and Susannah went to the TICA show in Springfield, Oregon this weekend. This was Susannah's first show; she purred through the whole thing, and despite tough competition, earned a 6th Best Longhair Kitten from Roslyn Drusch, as well as breed and division wins from other judges. Torri's granddaughters, Brownie (now named Pinecoon's Moxie) and Sundae (now named Pinecoon's Caliente of Coonyham), also did extremely well, even though they were the youngest kittens competing (they turned 4 months old on the first day of the show). Caliente got two finals, including a 2nd Best Allbreed Kitten from Karen McInchak. And we were most especially proud of our little Moxie (Brownie), who got four finals: a Best Allbreed Kitten from Roslyn Drusch, a Best Allbreed Kitten from Judy Chappetta, a Best Longhair Kitten from Roslyn Drusch, and a 9th Best Allbreed Kitten from Nancy Parkinson. Torri did really well, too: she was the highest scoring Longhair Alter in the show, and may possibly have been Best Alter in Show (we don't know because we didn't write down the shorthair finals).
September 8, 1998: Betsy and Torri went to the TICA Annual show in San Antonio, Texas; both had a wonderful time. Torri did pretty well: she was the highest scoring Maine Coon alter in the show -- and she was competing against Bandit (SGC Coonyham Antonio Banderas of HojPoj, this year's 2nd Best International Alter of the Year) and Yuri (SGA Mainelycats Doctor Zhivago, last year's Best International Alter of the Year). Also competing in the alter class was Torri's granddaughter Flirt (CH Pinecoon's Born Flirt of Coonyham), who did pretty well herself, considering the competition.
August 17, 1998: Pinecoon's Kiss Me Kate of Smokeycoons is now a Supreme Grand Champion!!! She completed the requirements for SGC at the Cat Fanciers of BC show in Langley, BC this past weekend. Congratulations to Kate and to her owners, Fred & Elaine Weitz of Smokeycoons. We are thrilled, and so proud of "our" Kate!
Torri did extremely well at that show as well -- she was the best Maine Coon alter in the show, and was 2nd Best Alter in Show.
August 12, 1998: Good health news: Frosty, Harry and Cokie passed their cardiac ultrasound tests (to screen for hypertrophic cardiomyopathy) with flying colors! They were examined by Dr. Woodfield, a veterinary cardiology specialist who studied with Dr. Kittelson in California.
August 9, 1998: Torri (SGC Luvpaws A Torrid Affair of Pinecoon -- Hoppy & Flap's mother) was Best Alter in Show at the Spirit of the North Cat Club show in Anchorage, Alaska! Betsy and Torri flew up there for the weekend, and also got to visit Torri's granddaughter Tundra (Pinecoon's Tundra Rose of Denalicoons) and her new kittens.
July 5, 1998: Madison and Susannah went to their first show today -- the Emerald City Cat Fanciers show in Seattle. We were so proud of them both! Madison competed as a 4-month-old kitten against a dozen other Maine Coon kittens (as well as many kittens of other breeds) and did very well -- got several Best-of-Breed wins and three very nice finals -- including a Best Kitten from Yvonne Patrick! And... she behaved herself beautifully. And Susannah, while too young at 3 months to compete, also behaved herself beautifully, and got lots of oohs and aahs from the other breeders and the spectators. (And she purred through the whole show -- what a little sweetheart she is!)
Another news-item of note, also from the Emerald City Cat Fanciers show: Pinecoon's Kiss Me Kate of Smokeycoons earned her Quadruple Grand Championship at this show.
June 29, 1998: We have a new arrival -- Catalystisc Oh Susannah of Pinecoon! Thank you David & Veronia Hill for entrusting us with this sweet and gorgeous baby!
June 25, 1998: TICA has announced its award winners for the past show year, and we are thrilled to announce that:
May 26, 1998: Hoppy had her kittens! She had seven gorgeous babies. Frosty is the (oblivious) father. Details are on our Kittens page.
April 28, 1998: Heartbreak... our precious Bill died suddenly today of a pulmonary thromboembolism (blood clot to the lung). He was only two years old and had been in perfect health. We are totally devastated. Bill was Betsy's feline soulmate and her favorite cat in the entire universe. (We just posted this recently -- couldn't bring ourselves to do it earlier.)
April 4, 1998: Bill was Best of the Best Alter in Show at the Edmonton Cat Fanciers Show this past weekend -- and he also won the Spectator's Choice award! Way to go Bill!!
March 28, 1998: Whoops!!! Chutzpah's "son" Washington turns out to be a girl! So we've renamed her Madison. We don't feel too silly about mis-sexing her: she fooled our vet too!
March 21, 1998: Santa Fe passed her hip x-rays! Her hips are Good, and we are most pleased. This marks her formal entrance into our breeding program. We're planning to breed her either to Frosty or Flap, and will decide which after studying the pedigrees a bit more. Also, during the same vet visit, we learned that neither Cokie nor Sadie is pregnant. Sigh...
February 16, 1998 (Presidents' Day): Chutzpah had her babies! She had two beautiful little boys: a brown tabby and white and a red tabby. We named them Washington and the other Jefferson, in honor of the holiday. Harry is the proud father.
January 12, 1998: Hoppy earned her TICA Supreme Grand Championship! Since her brother Flap earned his SGC this past October, this makes two SGCs in the same litter!
January 6, 1998: What a great way to start the New Year: at the Sacramento show this past weekend, Bill finalled in all 15 rings, earned 8 Best Cats, and was Best Alter in Show!
Late November 1997: We said farewell to Hoppy's daughter Wanda, who has been rechristened Pinecoon's Born Flirt of Coonyham. The same week, we welcomed the sweet and beautiful Santa Fe (Coonyham Santa Fe of Pinecoon) into our home and into our hearts. (Thank you Sharon & Laura for letting us have this little blue beauty!)
November 7, 1997: Betsy has left her job at Microsoft -- after over 9 years! She's looking forward to having more time to spend with her children and, of course, the cats. Because of this change, her only (but permanent!) email address is betsyt@pinecoon.com. (Some folks were still using Betsy's Microsoft email address as recently as last week. Update those address books, folks!)
November 2, 1997: Hoppy earned her TICA Grand Championship at a show in San Francisco! (She ended up just 20 points short of Double Grand... oh well.)
November 5, 1997: We said goodbye to Hoppy's daughter Keisha (Pinecoon's Tundra Rose of Denalicoons), who has headed for the Great White North to live with Richard & Valerie Johnston. We also said farewell to Lindy's daughter Kate (Pinecoon's KissMe Kate of Smokeycoons) this past weekend; she now belongs to Fred & Elaine Weitz. We're hoping to see Kate at a local show someday soon.
October 12, 1997: Flap earned his TICA Supreme Grand Championship -- in just four shows! YaHOO!!
August 30, 1997: Frosty is TICA's 16th Best International Kitten for the past show year! We are so excited -- this is our first international win! (Frosty is oblivious, though; despite his rarefied status as the only International Winner in our household, he continues to eat too much, fall over when you pet him, and occasionally fall off his cat tree when he's not paying attention.)
