Author Archives: Charles Huss

Photo Friday: Daredevil

The other day Frankie was on the bathroom counter looking like he was preparing to jump to the top of the door. Rose and I both happened to be in the bathroom at the same time (which is not typical). I feared he would hurt himself but Rose said to let him try it, so I did.

He made the jump with flying colors but as soon as he landed, the door started to move. I quickly held the door still so he wouldn’t fall and asked Rose to hold it so I could get my camera. I ran into the bedroom, grabbed the camera and turned it on as I was heading back toward the bathroom.

I knew from past failures that I needed to take a quick shot first and then worry about focus and composition on the next shot. There was no next shot as he was preparing to jump down as I arrived with the camera. I did manage to capture the photo below. It’s not purfect but I think it tells the story.

In case you are wondering, the biggest failure that comes to mind was a great picture opportunity of an osprey with the moon behind it. Instead of taking the shot, I decided to put my camera on a tripod first. By the time I set that up, the osprey flew away.

Photo Friday: Frankie’s First Foray Outside

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Frankie’s first time outside was also when I discovered he was a runner.

Bad Cat Chris

The weather was so beautiful last weekend that I decided to let Chris and Puck outside for a little exercise. I felt bad about leaving Frankie inside but I was not sure about what he would do once outside. I also did not feel comfortable trying to watch three cats at once.

C’mon Puck. What are you waiting for?

I see you having fun out there!

Okay! Enough pictures already!

Looks like this isn’t a good time to ask for hot dogs.

What about me?

Chris: Puck. I think I found a way in. Puck: What do you want to get in for? Chris: Oh yeah, you got a point.

C’mon guys, let me out.

After a few minutes, Rose came out and said I should let Frankie out too. I told her I would be happy to but I needed her help to watch them. So Rose agreed to…

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Tickets for the Final Four Cat Fight Tournament are Still Available

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Sometimes it seems like all our cats are involved in a fighting competition. I feel like I want to sell tickets to the events but I can’t seem to get them to give me a schedule of events and I often can’t tell if they are just sparring or if a real fight event is happening. Chris and Frankie had a real fight event this morning but I didn’t know it was scheduled or I would have had a film crew ready. I did have to ring the bell and send them to their respective corners.

This fight was from last week. I didn’t realize it, but our cats have developed a modified tag team event.

Chris and Floki are fighting now. Get your tickets before it’s too late and the tournament is over.

Photo Friday: Best Seat in the House

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The best time for a cat to find a sunbeam in our house is at sunrise and Chris knows the best place.

Did We Make a Mistake?

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Since I wrote this post more than two and a half years ago, Frankie has integrated into our family pretty well, although there are still fights, I think that is normal in every multi-cat household.

Bad Cat Chris

It has been more than three weeks since we adopted Frankie and while things are somewhat better now, there are still problems to overcome. This is new to us. We have had many cats over the years but never so many problems with fighting.

At first it seemed like Chris was to blame. It surprised us because Chris did not act that way when we introduced Puck. He seemed happy to have someone to play with. The two of them “fought” all the time but it was mostly play. There was very little growling and hissing. I suppose it also helped that Puck learned to be subservient when necessary.

When Frankie and Chris are together, there is usually growling, hissing and, for lack of a better word, screaming. There is also fighting. Not play fighting but mortal combat. Yesterday I had to break up a fight when Chris pursued and…

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Happy Cat Chris

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A syllogism, probably developed by Aristotle, is where a conclusion is inferred from two premises, one major and one minor, that each have one term in common with the conclusion. For example:

Major Premise : Chris rolls over when he is happy.
Minor Premise : Chris rolls over when he is outside.
Conclusion: Chris is happy when he is outside.

If I were to reverse the order of the premises, that would mean that if Chris is happy, he is outside. That’s almost true but he is also happy when he is on my desk making it difficult to finish a blog post.

Photo Friday: Best Friends

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In spite of the fact that Chris dominates Puck as the self-appointed alpha male, he really cares for him. You saw it in the last post and here is another example of the two of them hanging out as best buddies. I took this picture last night in low light with no flash so please forgive the less than perfect quality. I’m actually surprised it came out as good as it did.

Black Cat Day

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Today is Black Cat Day and as I write this, my black cat, Puck, is on my lap being very “kneedy.” We celebrate black cats today because they need our help. They are often overlooked at shelters because of their color or because people associate them with evil or bad luck.

After adopting two black cats, I can assure you that is nonsense. Since having Puck, and before him, Flash, most of my “bad luck” was a result of my own stupidity. Both of our black cat’s have been very sweet, and a little shy too, but they were, and are, well-behaved and wonderful to have around.

If we didn’t adopt Puck, Chris would not have a best friend.

If you are looking to adopt a cat, today would be a great day to go to your local animal shelter and give a loving black cat a good home.

Floki’s Hidden Stash

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Every morning, my wife plays with Floki while she checks her messages, email and Facebook. She will roll up a little wad of paper and throw it. Floki will then jump off the bed, chase down the wad of paper and attack. After a little playing, he brings the paper back for more fun.

This leads to little paper balls all over the house. Yesterday I found one in the water bowl. Also yesterday I found a hidden stash of paper balls in our hallway closet. I don’t know. Perhaps he is saving them for a potential paper shortage.

Does anybody else have a cat that likes paper balls? How about one that plays fetch like a dog?

Photo Friday: Floki Discovers the Sink

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Our kitten, Floki, typically hangs out with Rose in the bedroom every morning until she goes into the bathroom to get ready for work. That is where Chris sometimes takeover and lies on the counter while Rose is putting her make up on. Sometimes he will pull some of her make up close to his chest where Rose can’t get it. The other day Floki was on the counter instead of Chris and he discovered that he fits inside the sink.

I don’t think a day goes by when our cats don’t entertain us in some way.