There isn’t much I can say about this photo that isn’t obvious except that I feel sorry for people without pets because they can’t experience moments like this.
It used to be that the holiday season started with Thanksgiving but everyone knows that retailers have pushed it back to about mid-July. In my house, it starts when the Hallmark Channel starts showing Christmas movies. You know the ones. Girl has good job in New York, travels to small town, meets man, falls in love, quits job, stays in small town. Anyway, that is when my wife starts to get excited about the season.
This year there is even more of an urgency to prepare for the holidays. Rose’s son and his girlfriend, who is not his girlfriend (it’s complicated), are flying in tomorrow. They will stay for his birthday on the 18th and for Thanksgiving before leaving the following Friday. So, obviously, it is important to have things ready.
The first thing to prepare for was the annual cookie bake extravaganza which includes pumpkin rolls and Chex mix. Before that could be started, Rose had to set the oven to “clean.” That caused our house to be a bit stinky so I opened some windows to air it out a little. Of course, that did not go unnoticed by our cats.
Next was our Christmas tree, which I kept stored in a large zippered bag. before I could even finish unpacking it, Chris managed to crawl inside. Naturally, that got the attention of Floki and Frankie.
Then we had to get out the decorations which meant plenty of opportunities to investigate or just lay in a box.
Finally, because of or in spite of all the help, we finished our Christmas tree.
Next, I have to put lights outside. I must admit I am a bit of a Scrooge when it comes to decorating but I especially don’t like stringing lights outside the house. It is something that mostly only gets seen by the neighbors so it seems like it is done solely to impress the neighbors and I don’t care about impressing the neighbors. I do want to make my wife happy so I string lights.
What are your thoughts on decorating for the holidays? Am I wrong about the outside lights?
Frankie loves to let it all hang out.
I ordered a pressure cooker but the box was more of a hit with our cats.
This was taken on the day that I lost the use of my hand for a while.
I reserved one of the shelves on our bookcase for the cats but I think maybe I should have reserved two shelves.
We will be away again next week so I probably won’t be posting anything until we come back except for next week’s Photo Friday which I will schedule today. The boys will have their favorite cat sitter, Lynn, stopping by to feed and play with them.
Lately, Frankie is on my lap almost as much as Chris is. One of the things he likes to do is nap with his face pushed into my stomach.
Coincidently this is what is happening as I write this.
Frankie’s nose tends to drip when he is happy which explains the wet spot on my shirt. Our cat Vinny did the same thing.
I am scheduling this post a week early because my wife a I are leaving on a week-long cruise on the 14th. We will have internet but probably won’t spend much time online.
On last week’s post, I lamented about missing a great photo opportunity when I saw Chris with his arm around Floki but he removed it before I could get the photo. Shortly after I wrote the post, I discovered the photo below that I forgot I had even though I took it just a few days earlier.
When we moved to our new home the cats gained some indoor space but lost their outside catio. Before we built the catio I would take Frankie for a walk on the harness once or twice a week then let Chris out for 10 or 15 minutes while I watched him. Since moving, and before last week, Frankie has only been outside a couple of times and only because he escaped.
Frankie hangs out under vehicles when I am close so I can’t catch him.
Chris escaped a couple of times too and I let him out once or twice because he has been much more demanding (and annoying) about going outside.
I hesitated to let Frankie out because he didn’t make a big fuss at the door like Chris and I wanted to keep it that way but I also wanted him to have some outside time. In addition, I wanted him to get used to where our house is in case he escapes again and loses his way. This will be important because we will be on vacation next week and I don’t want the cat-sitter to have problems.
I let him outside for the first time on October 1 and he was so happy.
Of course, he has to stop and smell the bushes.
Getting him home was a nightmare. He tends to walk in one direction so I have to pick him up to get him home but he has learned to be more aggressive and he hisses, growls and struggles to get out of my grasp. I couldn’t hold on to him for more than ten seconds at a time. I just tried to get him to walk in the right direction. When He changed course I would pick him up again until he broke free.
As usual, when Frankie returned, Chris went outside. 
And also, as usual, he did his happy roll where everyone could see him.
That scene repeated the following week but I haven’t downloaded the photos from my phone yet and I am a bit too rushed to do it now but I’m sure you get the idea. Frankie has now become like Chris and both have become extremely annoying about going outside.
