New Gifts for Our Cats

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We got a box last week from my wife’s son and his fiancée. It contained cat treats and a couple of toys for our boys. The first wasn’t really a toy, but a cat scratcher.

It needed to be assembled but it was relatively easy to put together.

Both Frankie and Floki have been scratching on this new scratcher, although never when I was ready with a camera. I will say that so far they’ve only scratched on the flat part near the floor. Perhaps I should turn it over, so the long end is on the floor, or flip it, so the long end is at a 45-degree angle. It’s nice that I have options.

The other gift was a 4-way cat tunnel.

I have seen both cats playing in it, but Floki especially likes it.

Both items have been out for about a week with only a very slight decrease in interest.

Adventures in Catsitting

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We brought our next-door neighbor to the airport Saturday morning. She flew to Phoenix to visit family. While there, she even arranged to visit my mom. That is sweet of her, but it makes me look like a terrible son because I haven’t been to Arizona since before she moved there. Getting there has always been complicated and expensive, but I guess I need to stop relying on her to visit me and get out there, but I digress.

I offered to take care of her cat. You may remember her as the female Frankie. My concern was that Frankie didn’t like me, or pretty much anyone for that matter, and I would have a hard time getting her to come inside the house. Frankie is a mostly outside kitty. She comes in to eat and she comes in at night, but even the latter is not all the time.

Since I couldn’t get the girl Frankie to come inside, I decided to take my Blink camera from my office, which doubles as the cat’s room, and set it on the sidewalk near our neighbor’s back door. It records when it detects motion. That let me make sure Frankie was eating the food I put out. Frankie’s mom made a box (you can see it on the right) with a cat bed inside and put one at the front and back doors, but I don’t think Frankie has used either one so far.

I found Frankie in the front yard and tried to get her to come in for dinner but she wasn’t having it.

That night, or early the next morning, she discovered the camera. In the video, it seemed to surprise her, probably because a blue light turns on during the recording.

It got quite cold for our area Sunday night but she refused to come inside. I went over there early Monday morning. I called her name from the back door but didn’t see her. I then called her from the front door with no response. As I returned to the back area, she was waiting by the door and came inside. I didn’t have my phone so I have no photos of that.

She ate her breakfast, and when I returned for lunch, she begged me to let her outside. I didn’t have the heart to keep her locked inside the house, so I let her outside.

That evening she didn’t come for dinner, so I left the food for her outside. Later, I returned to find the food was not eaten so I cleaned it up and came back again around 8:30. The temperature had dropped and this time she was willing to come in.

I gave her breakfast this morning, but left her inside because it was still cold outside.

I returned at 9:30 to give her the second half of the can of cat food, but she wasn’t interested. She only wanted to go outside, so I let her out. Hopefully, she is starting to trust me, and I won’t have a hard time getting her inside tonight.

Our New Bird Bath and Feeder

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When my wife took out our Christmas decorations, she suggested we do the Advent calendar again, by which she meant I do the Advent calendar again. I didn’t do it last year because of our move to our current house, but I did it the two previous years.

Our Advent calendar is made of wood and shaped like a house with 24 drawers. The first year I did it, I didn’t have 24 gifts that would fit in the drawers, so I wrapped them, wrote a short poem for each, and tucked the poems into the drawers. A word of advice: Be careful when you do something overly nice for your spouse, because it will soon be expected. If my wife is reading this, I’m just kidding.

Anyway, because of the small size of our house and its limited space, I needed to ensure my gifts would not take up too much room. Because of the number of gifts, jewelry was not an option. One of the gifts I chose, partly because it would take up no room in the house, was a combination bird bath and feeder with a planter at the bottom.

I did not take a photo of it from the outside, but here it is from Frankie’s perspective.

There is a cardinal on the feeder in the above photo and a squirrel in the photo below.

I worried that squirrels might tip it over, so I attached it to a wooden stake.

So far, the cats don’t seem to care much about it, but we humans have enjoyed seeing the wildlife from our front porch.

My Newest Book is About Cats

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After I finished my most recent book, Last Hope, I went back to work on another book I started in 2023, but kept starting and quitting whenever I got stuck. I got stuck again, so I decided to write a short prequel to my Last Healer Mysteries series called Last Seen.

The book was challenging to write because it happened before Joe’s tenth birthday in 1926. I may be old, but I knew nothing about 1926. In the story, Joe and his best friend, Jimmy, discover that many of the neighborhood cats are missing, including their own. Their quest to find the missing cats is a distraction from the drama in Joe’s life, including the death of his father and the discovery that his healing abilities are unique, and he could be a freak.

The book is different from the rest of the series, as it is written in first person and is suitable for all ages. Here is the official description of the book.

In this prequel to the Last Healer Mysteries series, Joe shares with Katie the story of his very first investigation, a poignant story from 1926 Brooklyn that opened his eyes to the uniqueness of his healing ability.

Shortly before his tenth birthday, while he was dealing with the untimely death of his adoptive father, Joe learns that no one else has his healing abilities, and he may be a freak. He then discovers his beloved cat, Smokey, has vanished along with many other neighborhood felines. Teaming up with his best friend Jimmy, the boys become detectives on a quest that turns into a lifeline amid grief and worry. The boys’ investigation eventually reveals the surprising truth about the cats’ fate, but it also draws them into a deeper, more urgent problem that will test whether Joe can heal anyone besides himself.

Last Seen is a family-friendly tale of friendship and the many forms of healing.

You can read more about it on my personal blog here. As usual, I need your help with reviews. The book is free today and tomorrow on Amazon. It is also free after that if you have Kindle Unlimited. I know some people prefer physical books, but because it is a short 11,000 words, it is only available as an eBook. You can get your copy here.

Bad Cat Chris is also free today and tomorrow, as is a short story I wrote called Repeat.

I hope you enjoy the stories, and if you can, please review on Amazon.