Author Archives: Charles Huss

Chris’s Thirteenth Birthday

Someone recently commented on an old post where I mentioned that I was worried because Chris was almost eight at the time and we had lost three cats, Tigger, Abbey, and Alex, all at eight years old. Now Chris is thirteen and still going strong. That is not to say he doesn’t have problems. He is still prone to ear infections, he is quite a bit overweight, and he possibly has arthritis to some degree.

Age has taken a toll on his “bad” behavior. He no longer fills his days with naughtiness, but he can still be plenty annoying. What hasn’t changed is his affectionate behavior. Chris has always been the most loving cat I have ever seen, both with humans and other cats, and that has not changed one bit.

He started out a little love bug . . .

Bad Cat Chris at adoption center with Rose. — Chris at adoption center with Rose.

. . . and now he is a big love bug.

I can only hope Chris will be with us for a long time because the void he will leave behind will be way too big to ever fill.

Photo Friday: Baby Chris

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I dug into the archives again for this week’s photo. This was taken on April 4, 2010, which was Easter that year. We had a couple over for our Easter meal who happened to have a baby. When they took the baby out of his little rocker (or whatever it is called) Chris took over.

One of my first blog posts almost ten years ago showed more photos from this day. You can read it here.

Wrongly Accused?

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Here is a post for Throwback Thursday from August of 2015. I think this is the start of all of Puck’s problems that, as you may recall, did not end well.

Bad Cat Chris

When I first saw that a cat had pooped on our new sofa, naturally I knew it was Chris because that is the kind I thing that Chris would do. Then it happened again and again, perhaps six or eight times in all. The last three times , including this morning, I began to think Chris may not be the cat doing this.

About a week ago a poop appeared when Chris was napping on our bed. I didn’t know exactly when it happened, so I couldn’t rule Chris out, but it did make me wonder. Then, a few days ago, I saw Puck on the sofa through the kitchen window and a few minutes later I noticed the cover was moved. When I looked closer, I saw that it was folded over to cover a poop. It may have already been like that but if it was, I would think I…

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Squirrel/Bird Feeder Update

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I ordered a ground feeder last week in an attempt to distract the squirrels away from our new window bird feeder. While I was waiting for it, a Bluejay found our feeder. The curtain was partially closed and I didn’t want to get too close and scare him away, but I took a photo anyway.

The ground feeder I ordered doubles as a birdbath but I put corn in it, which I read is a favorite of squirrels, and placed it under the bird feeder yesterday.

Later that day I saw a squirrel in the bird feeder and looked down to see the corn had not been touched. I watched for a while and saw the squirrel come close to the corn but he never looked at it. I don’t know if he was ignoring it or just had not found it yet.

This morning the squirrel was back in the bird feeder while Frankie and Floki were there. This time he was not as nervous around them as in the past. Both cats even attacked the window to no avail. Eventually, they just settled down to watch.

When the squirrel left, I looked down and saw that all three ears of corn were gone. Somehow the little squirrel managed to drag three ears of corn away. I think now I need to buy a bag of sunflower seeds. I’d like to see him drag all those away.

Photo Friday: A Cats Life

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If you follow Chris on social media you might have seen a similar photo but I wanted to post it here so everyone could see the sacrifices cats make so that humans can be happy.

The Dominant Cat

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Here is a post from August of 2015 for Throwback Thursday. After Puck died, Chris started dominating Floki in the same way, although I have not seen him do that lately.

Bad Cat Chris

We have always joked that Chris has to be the alpha in the house. The truth is, cats are not like dogs, there is no “alpha” cat in the wild, at least not among African Wildcats, the species that evolved into the modern domestic house cat.

African Wildcats are loners, especially the males. Each male has a single territory that does not overlap another male’s territory but may overlap several females’ territories. This may cause competition for mating purposes but there is no group that requires a leader.

About 12,000 years ago in the Middle East, humans started to give up their hunter-gatherer lifestyle and became farmers. This, of course, was a very gradual process but eventually there were communities of people growing wheat and other grains. They stored these grains in large bins that attracted rodents. The increase in rodents, in turn, attracted cats.

The humans not only tolerated the cats…

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1883

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Recently my wife and I started watching a show called 1883 which is a prequel to Yellowstone. Yellowstone is a show that my wife likes but I couldn’t get past the first episode because it is just a prime-time soap opera, like Dallas, but with much more violence. I thought 1883 was pretty good but Floki really liked it. Almost every time the show started, Floki was there to watch it.

Sometimes he would be in our way but often he would watch from the coffee table. Of course, he never watched the entire episode. No cat has an attention span that long.

Photo Friday: Outside at Last

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Our cats are mostly inside only cats but I try to take out Chris and Frankie at least once a week. This usually happens on the weekend because I am too busy with work during the week. By then they are more than ready to get outside. Floki does not go out because I would never get a harness on him and he would probably freak out once outside.

Usually, I put a harness on Frankie and bring him for a walk first. Chris doesn’t need a harness because he is happy to hang around the house, eat grass, and then lie in the sunbeam, or in this case, a partial sunbeam.

Photo Friday: Creek Ratz Cat

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I dug into the archives again for this week’s photo. This goes back to March 23, 2010, when Rose and I were still living in Myrtle Beach. We often went to a place called Murrell’s Inlet where they had several restaurants and shops. Usually, we ate at a place called Creek Ratz where we sat outside. If you click on the link you can see how nice it is there and, judging by the website, it is almost exactly as I remember it.

Anyway, while eating at Creek Ratz we were often met by a stray cat that hung out at the restaurant. Perhaps he made his rounds to all the restaurants.

I had a habit of ordering the chicken salad, which was essentially a salad with several chicken strips along the top. I always ate the salad and gave the chicken to the cat. Occasionally the cat wasn’t around and I would be disappointed like it was the cat I was going there for, even though the food and the atmosphere were outstanding. I guess the cat just made it extra special.