Monthly Archives: June 2013

Chris Recaptures Routine

A several months ago I wrote about Chris’s Stolen Routine. In that post I mentioned that Chris had a morning routine that involved hanging out with Rose and bothering her while she got herself ready for work. That routine was taken over by Puck and Chris just let it go until we moved into our current home. Now, Chris is back up on the counter every morning interfering with Rose’s routine.

Chris taking up valuable counter space while Puck is back to jealous spectator.

This time around Puck is not able to intimidate Chris into giving up his spot. Unfortunately for Rose, the bathroom counter is much smaller that it was in our last home so it is even more difficult for her to get ready while Chris is playing with her make-up. He even knocked over a full cup of coffee a few days ago, soaking most of the counter, including her brushes.

As we were cleaning up the mess she told me that if I wasn’t around she would get rid of Chris. I’m sure that was the frustration talking because he is so darn lovable.

Happiness is Unrestricted Patio Access

11 Replies

When we first looked at our new place we were not able to see inside because someone was still living here but we did look at it from the outside and liked the fact that it had an enclosed patio. It was fully enclosed, which is not as good for the cats as just screened but we thought we could open the windows for them and they would be happy.

When we finally were able to meet with the Realtor we discovered that he listed the wrong address and the unit for rent was actually the one next door, which had no enclosure on the patio at all. In addition, the 1100 square feet turned out to be more like 850. That was very disappointing because the location was fantastic and it was very difficult to find a rental in an area that we liked.

This is what our patio looked like when we first saw it. To the left was the unit that was listed by mistake.

When we were finally able to look inside, we liked what we saw but we told the Realtor that for the high rent we would be paying, we would need to have the patio screened. The cats would not have been happy cooped up inside. We later learned that the owners agreed and two days after we moved in we had a new, screened-in patio.

Our new screened-in patio – Notice Chris to the far right.

Once the patio was enclosed we put our cat door on the slider and the cats were able to go in and out at will, even when we were at work, which was not possible before because we could only lock it from the inside and since we had to leave through that door we had to keep it unlocked. We didn’t want someone coming by and letting the cats out so they were forced to stay inside all day.

Coincidentally, we lived in the building in front of Chris two years ago.

Now they can come and go 24 hours a day, which is a real treat. They also have a much bigger patio to enjoy. In addition, we now live next door to a marina and there is a lot of activity for the cats to watch, There is also plenty of birds that make an appearance, especially an egret that must have been fed by the former tenant.

On another note, the bird that laid her eggs just outside our front window on the day we moved in sat on them for almost two weeks until Rose noticed on Friday morning that the nest was empty except for two eggs that were broken open. We think that a predator attacked the nest. Too bad; we were looking forward to seeing little chicks outside our window.

New Home, New Cabinets to Open

5 Replies

After we moved I noticed Chris, on a few occasions, unsuccessfully try to open cabinets in the new home. These were different from he was used to. The cabinets in the kitchen had no knobs and seemed to offer less of a gap for Chris to get his claws into. The ones in the bathroom were held in place by magnets. It appeared that Chris was not going to be opening cabinets in this house.

Seems the cat food is better when Bad Cat Chris open the bag himself

That is a good thing because just before we moved out of our old home I bought a new bag of cat food and put it under the sink next to the container that I keep the food in. I did not put it inside the container because the old food was not finished yet. When I got home the next day the cabinet door was open and there were several holes chewed into the bag.

I was certain that was not going to happen again. I even felt sorry for him while I washed the dishes and watched him try to get into the cabinet besides me. That feeling ended a few seconds later when the door popped open and Chris went inside.

The cabinet door that The The door Chris managed to open.

What could be so interesting under the sink?

Well, I thought, at least the bathroom sink was secure. Those doors were held in by magnets. Suddenly a quote from the movie Jaws entered my mind: “He can’t go under, not with three barrels on him!”

Later that day I was in the bathroom brushing my teeth and Chris came in and tried to open the cabinet under the sink. Do you see a pattern here? He likes to be bad in front of people. Cats sure are funny.

I stood there thinking about Jaws again. “Your not going to open these cabinets, not with magnets on them!” That was when the door popped open and in he went…again.

There is one more cabinet that may be tough for Chris to beat. Our china cabinet has three drawers in the middle and a sliding door on each end. Chris had figured out long ago how to open those doors but recently Rose had the great idea of opening one of the drawers slightly to keep the doors from sliding. I watched Chris work on one of the doors for a good five minutes this afternoon to no avail. He must have wondered why it was not opening all of a sudden. He came very close to pushing the drawer shut a few times and I found myself actually rooting for him to figure it out but he stopped trying before he did. I’m sure he will get it one of these days.

The Window and the Bird

The Fun Sport of Moving

2 Replies

A few weeks ago we decided to move yet again. We were living in the apartment community that Rose manages because of convenience and because of a thirty percent rent discount. The property was bought by another company last week and the new company does not give rent discounts so we decided we would be better off living where we could enjoy living.

We found a place close to where we used to live in Dunedin and spent the next couple of weeks packing. The house was essentially turned upside-down and we had boxes and other things piled high in the dining room and bedroom. Puck wasn’t sure what to make of the disruption but for Chris, it was an early Christmas.

There was so much to get into. Piles of boxes to climb, open cabinets to jump into, closets with high, empty shelves. It was the sport of getting into trouble and Chris was at the peak of his game. Even Puck got into the game at times.

On moving day we locked Chris and Puck in the bathroom and then when the movers were done we brought them to our new home and shut them in the bathroom until all our stuff was inside. The whole process took only three hours. When they were let out, Puck was nervous and hid but Chris was like an explorer who just discovered “The New World.” He investigated every part of every room, from top to bottom.

Eventually Puck got used to his new surroundings and now both he and Chris seem quite happy in the new place. We are too.

It’s Been a Great Year

2 Replies

Yesterday, June 3rd, marked the one year anniversary of the Bad Cat Chris blog. It has been a great year and I have really enjoyed sharing Chris’s story as well as connecting with great people I would not have met in person without the blog.

We just moved last weekend and things have been a bit hectic but I will share the moving story with you as soon as our unpacking is done and my computer is set up. Thanks for reading.