December 15, 1999: Good health news: Beamer and Wills passed their one-year hip radiographs (to screen for hip dysplasia). Both have good to excellent hips. Yay!
December 6, 1999: This past weekend at the cat show in Seattle, Hoppy's son Teddy (SGA Pinecoon's Edward Bearcat) earned his Supreme Grand Championship Alter title! Teddy completed the requirements for his SGA incredibly fast -- in just over two shows. (Nah... we aren't too proud... :-) And Teddy's sister Bravada (Pinecoon's Bravada of Coonmora) completed the requirements for at least her Grand Championship -- which makes six "grand" children for Hoppy! Kittens Vanessa and Hana competed at the show too; both behaved beautifully, and Hana earned several finals, including a Best Kitten!
November 29, 1999: This isn't cat-related news, but we are so pleased & proud that we're gonna mention it anyway... Betsy plays the cello in her brother-in-law Chris Bingham's folk band, Gaia Consort -- and they've just released their new CD, Gaia Circles, which is (if we do say so ourselves) pretty darn good. If you're curious, you can download songs (and even purchase the album if you want) via Chris' website at www.gaiaconsort.com.
November 21, 1999: We had a great time at the show in Seattle this weekend. Hana purred through the entire show (even though she'd just arrived two days ago from Japan!) and earned her first final (4 LH, from Karen McInchak). Teddy (Pinecoon's Edward Bearcat) finalled in every ring and was Best Alter in Show; he completed his Quad Grand Championship and got within 400 points of SGC -- not bad for just two adult shows!!! And we were especially pleased with how well Teddy's sister Bravada (Pinecoon's Bravada of Coonmora) did: she earned five finals -- including a Best Cat -- and was quite well-behaved (hurrah!!).
November 18, 1999: We have a wonderful new addition, all the way from Japan: Herbykatz Hana of Pinecoon, a lovely silver torbie and white girl. She is outgoing, relaxed, affectionate, and just as sweet as she can be. (And so pretty!)
November 6, 1999: Great news: Hoppy is now a TICA Outstanding Dam! (To earn this prestigious title, a cat must give birth to at least five children who earn the title of Grand Champion or better.) Hoppy's son Teddy (DGA Pinecoon's Edward Bearcat) earned his Grand Championship at his very first adult show today in Alaska -- and made his mother an Outstanding Dam! Thanks, Teddy!!
October 9, 1999: We have another new addition: Mainesuspect Vanessa of Pinecoon, a very pretty silver tabby and white van girl who is also out of foundation stock (different from Fire's). Vanessa is a sweet, loving little girl with the cutest pattern -- she has three silver tabby spots the size of a half dollar on her body, a neat little silver tabby cap on her head, and a silver tabby tail; the rest of her is pure white!
September 23, 1999: Hoppy had
one kitten, a
brown mackerel tabby and white female, in late September. Dad is Frosty.
(There were actually seven kittens, but for some reason, Hoppy never went
into full-fledged labor. Sadly, by the time a C-section was performed, six
of the seven had died from placental detachment.)
September 9, 1999: We have a new addition:
Coonmora Friendly Fire of Pinecoon, a beautiful red tabby
boy with a really neat pedigree -- it goes back to foundation in just 3
generations. Fire is the sweetest baby; he purrs all the time, gives kisses, and
has already stolen our hearts.
September 6, 1999: Betsy went to Jackson, Mississippi to receive Torri's International Alter award. She didn't bring a cat to show (Beamer didn't want to go), but Teddy (Pinecoon's Edward Bearcat) was there and did very, very well. There were 36 Maine Coon kittens and over 120 allbreed kittens competing -- and Teddy got two allbreed finals and was the third highest scoring Maine Coon kitten in the show.
August 27, 1999: Moxie has five new babies! Dad is SGC AnTarCin Ahnold (a brown tabby male belonging to Cindy & Terry Stelmaschuk in Drumheller, Alberta). There are three brown tabbies (one girl, two boys) and two blue tabby boys. I've asked Moxie whether she and Santa Fe conspired to have identical litters, but she won't tell me... hmmm...
August 23, 1999: Santa Fe has five new babies! (Dad is Hot Shot.) There are three brown tabbies (one girl, two boys) and two blue tabby boys. Mom and kittens are doing great; Dad is oblivious...
August 14, 1999: Good health news: Hot Shot and Torri passed their echocardiogram/ultrasound tests (to screen for hypertrophic cardiomyopathy) today. The tests were performed by Dr. Woodfield, a board-certified veterinary cardiologist.
August 9, 1999: Susannah has four new babies! (Dad is Hot Shot.) There are two brown tabbies (a boy and a girl), a red tabby boy, and a red tabby and white boy. The kittens are beautiful and healthy, and Susannah has been nothing but "Angel Kitty" ever since they were born. Apparently she really likes motherhood...
July 13, 1999: Bravada has left us to go live with Connie Zimmerman (Coonmora Maine Coons). We'll miss our sweet spunky girl, but at least we'll get to visit her now and then...
July 11, 1999: We went to the TICA show in Seattle this weekend. Although Beamer and Bravada were both uncharacteristically cranky, we still had a great time. The highlight of the show (for us, anyway!) was Bravada's handsome brother, Pinecoon's Edward Bearcat, who finalled in seven rings! Way to go Teddy!!!
July 8, 1999: Susannah is expecting kittens by Hot Shot in August, and Moxie has been successfully bred to SGC AnTarCin Ahnold. So, if all goes well, we should have new babies this fall -- yippee!!
June 16, 1999: TICA has announced its award winners for the past show year, and we are thrilled to announce that Torri is the TICA Northwest Region's Alter of the Year and TICA's Sixth Best International Alter!
Also, Susannah was TICA's Best International Brown Classic Torbie and White Maine Coon of the year! Susannah was also the NW region's 8th best longhair cat and the 21st best cat.
We are also very excited that so many of Hoppy's and Frosty's children made regional wins this year:
May 30, 1999: Susannah completed the requirements for her TICA Supreme Grand Championship at the show in Kelowna, B.C. this weekend, thanks to a Best Cat from Karen McInchak! Hurrah!!! Moxie did pretty well, too, with five finals; and Beamer did fabulously well in his very first show -- he finalled in every ring but one!
May 20, 1999: Moxie passed her one-year hip x-rays with flying colors! Our vet says her hips look excellent -- we are very pleased!
May 16, 1999: We have a new addition: Luvpaws Coonbeam of Pinecoon ("Beamer"), a very sweet (and handsome!) blue-silver boy. He is a love and we are absolutely thrilled to have him. (And, so far, he seems thrilled with us too, which is awfully nice...)
May 1, 1999: The show season is over, and boy, are we glad! Betsy and Torri were on the road 8 weekends out of the last 10, and although they had a lot of fun travelling and showing together, they are both exhausted. Torri seems to have done pretty well, though -- the last (unofficial) standings had her at 6th Best International Alter. We have our fingers crossed that she'll still be up there when the official standings come out...
April 25, 1999: Moxie earned her Grand Championship at the show in The Dalles, Oregon this past weekend. She couldn't have done it without the help of our dear friends Elaine Weitz and Diane Green, who took her to the show for us (Betsy went to Phoenix with Torri).
April 10 1999: We are so pleased to announce that SGC Coonmora Hot Shot has come to live with us! Hot Shot is Hoppy and Flap's half-brother, a gorgeous brown classic tabby fellow who is just as sweet and unflappable as they are (it seems to run in the family). Thanks so much to Connie and Paul Zimmerman for entrusting us with this very special boy!
March 15 1999: Susannah passed her one-year hip x-rays with flying colors! Our vet says her hips look excellent -- we are extremely pleased. Unfortunately, Madison did not do as well; one of her hips looked pretty borderline, so she was spayed, and has already found a wonderful new home where she can "rule the roost," as befits our little Queen Bee. We also retired a couple of our "oldtimers" -- Harry is now neutered (he will be much happier when he isn't constantly stressing about girls) and Chutzpah unfortunately had to be spayed, due to an untreatable uterine condition that was preventing her from ever getting pregnant again (sigh).
March 1999: Great cardiac news: Dr. Woodfield, board-certified cardiologist, performed a cardiac ultrasound on Hoppy and Santa Fe, and found them both to be normal and free of cardiomyopathy.
February 22, 1999: Hoppy had her babies today! (Dad is Harry.) She had five kittens: three brown tabbies (one boy, two girls), a brown tabby and white boy, and a red tabby boy.
February 17, 1999: This past weekend at the TICA show in Bellevue, WA, Susannah completed her Quadruple Grand Championship! Also this weekend, "our" Kate (Pinecoon's Kiss Me Kate of Smokeycoons) became a triple-association Grand by completing her Grand Championship in ACFA. Kate is now a TICA Supreme Grand Champion, a CFA Grand Champion and an ACFA Grand Champion. Wow!!! This achievement would be impressive enough for a male, but for a female Maine Coon, it's outstanding! (Can you tell we're proud?? :-)
January 10, 1999: Flap has been retired from breeding and is now neutered (sigh). Although he's a beautiful boy and produces wonderful babies, we chose not to keep him in our breeding program because we weren't happy with his hips. They were Fair at 1 year of age, but when he was x-rayed last week for his OFA certification, his left hip showed signs of mild hip dysplasia. (Sob!) We are very sorry to lose Flap as a stud male, as his babies were always so healthy, friendly and gorgeous. It helps, though, to know that Flap is going to a wonderful home, and that he is already happier now that he's neutered and isn't always wishing he had a girlfriend.
