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Simba and Gizmo’s Blog
“The Purrfect Pair”
January 2010

Happy 2010 race fans! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year’s and are looking forward to the start of the 2010 NHRA Full Throttle race season…which is just around the corner! We’ve had a nice off season so far and it seems like a lifetime ago that we were at the Auto Club World Finals in Pomona cheering on Team Force and congratulating Robert on his Championship! 2009 was a great year but this one will be even better!

There is one little problem. It’s actually a really BIG problem in a tiny little fur ball of a package. It’s name is Gizmo…the new kitten.

Life was good at the end of the 2009 season. Ashley and Dan were finally home for a while so we spent lots of time together decorating for the holidays, barbequing and watching CSI Las Vegas. But towards the middle of December I noticed something strange. They didn’t scold me when I tore up toilet paper, used the couch as a scratch post and the curtain as a swing. In fact, they were being really nice. A little too nice. And then “It” came in to our lives. It was a lovely Sunday afternoon and I was just settling in to a nice nap in the sunlight when the door opened. Usually Ashley and Dan come and find me right away when they get home but this time they both snuck upstairs and closed something in the bathroom. Then they came and cuddled with me. I didn’t hear or see anything strange so I let it go. But later as I was strolling through the kitchen I walked right in to a little brown and black fur ball that was so small and scared he ran right under the stove! Well you’d have thought the neighborhood was on fire. Ashley started freaking out and next thing you know the kitchen is being torn apart. I was certain it must be a mouse or a rat or something that needed to be attacked immediately so I did the best I could to get to it too. But to my surprise when Ashley finally got a hold of the little guy she hugged it! From that point on we were now a family of four, I had a new annoying little kitten sibling, and life as I knew it would never be the same again.

For the first few days I hid. But soon I realized that the little guy (whom they named Gizmo after the 80’s movie Gremlins, I think for his big ears and tiny head) was a lot smaller than me and pretty harmless. He also found really strange things to keep him entertained…like me. I’d be walking along through the living room and he’d drop down on me from the top of the couch like a ninja! And this little guy never goes to sleep! He thinks bedtime is playtime! He also gets into a lot of trouble. He knocked down Ashley’s entire closet organizer (I of course brought her up to see what he had done) pulled half the clothes off the hangers and dragged them around the floor and pulled all the socks out of the laundry hamper. To help you to understand what I’m dealing with let me also tell you that he got lost inside a Christmas bag! How does one do that? He is pretty cute though and when I was sick during the car ride up to Tahoe for Christmas he cuddled up next to me and it was nice to have a buddy to lean on.

So this is what we’ve been up to and now that the holidays are over it’s time to get back to drag racing which I’m really excited about! I miss Ashley’s crew members and fans and can’t wait to see everyone at the NHRA Winter Nationals in Pomona on February 11-14! It will be really interesting to see how Gizmo does at the drag races. With those ears he’s got on him, he better bring some mighty ear plugs! See you all soon! Purr…Simba

P.S. Gizmo wanted to say something even though he’s not really trained to post blogs yet, so I have typed out for him what he wanted to say below.

“Hi! What’s a drag race and why was there a tree in our house? Why am I not allowed behind the refrigerator or inside the dishwasher? Can I have a treat?! Simba is my best new buddy! Do not chew on his ear though- he doesn’t like it! I got in trouble for attacking Dan’s ear in the middle of the night too, so do not do that either! Why does John Force talk so much?” Purr...Gizmo