Author Archives: Charles Huss

Ferals at Work Update

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I am still putting food out for the ferals that hang around my place of employment but for a stretch of a couple of weeks I saw them very rarely. The food was always gone when I checked later in the day so I assumed they were just showing up later than usual. That surprised me because there is a school behind my work and activity increases exponentially after I get there.

One day I saw several birds interested in the food.

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I worried that maybe the birds were eating it but I never saw the birds after that so I think that wasn’t normal.

Fortunately, I started seeing more of the feral cats again about two weeks ago. Some days I see only one and not always the same one but other days I see all three like this morning and when I took this video.

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This fellow usually shows up independent of the other cats. Not sure if he is in the same colony or an outsider.

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Today was a good day because the ginger and white cat was waiting for me when I got there this morning and the bullseye tabby showed up as soon as I brought the food out. Normally she (or he) is pretty shy but I think she is getting used to me.

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There is one more cat, a white and black cat that I have not seen for a long time. I hope that one is okay.

Feral Cat

Meet Frankie, Our Newest Addition

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We adopted Frankie on February 8, 2014. When that date came around this year I forgot to mention it so I thought I would re-blog his rescue story.

Charles Huss's avatarBad Cat Chris

Saturday Rose and I were discussing Valentine’s Day and she surprised me by saying that instead of jewelry, I could get her a Bengal cat. She then added that a Snowshoe cat would be acceptable too.

We were in the car so I brought up Petfinder.com on my phone but there were very few that met her criteria. The ones that were listed were a fair distance away. They also had photos that were poor and descriptions that were almost non-existent. There was one possibility at the Hillsborough County Animal Shelter but they don’t answer their phones on the weekend and their description on Petfinder did not even mention the age, sex or temperament of the cat. I don’t understand why shelters don’t do a better job promoting their “detainees.”

We happened to be near a shelter called The Suncoast Animal League so we decided to look there. There was a…

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Our Uncontainable Cat

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These days, Frankie has proved to be more of a pain-in-the-butt than Chris. Both of the cats are very eager to get outside so coming and going can be a daunting task. What makes Frankie a bigger pain is he will run away while Chris stays close to home.

I had the day off from work on Thursday and needed to get something out of the car for Rose that morning when Chris came out of nowhere and ran out the door. While I was distracted with trying to stop Chris, Frankie ran out the door behind him. Chris usually just rolls around on the driveway or walks to the edge to eat grass so I wasn’t worried about him, but I was worried about chasing Frankie around the neighborhood with my bare feet so I had to run back inside to get shoes.

Bad Cat Chris outside

Chris is content eating grass.

When I returned Frankie was nowhere in sight so I walked around looking for him. I walked around the house and around several nearby houses and finally decided to go home and hope he returned. When I got there, Frankie and Chris were standing in the driveway smelling each other. I took that opportunity to grab Frankie and put him inside.

A short time later Frankie slipped past me again. This time I was able to grab him relatively quickly. It was almost like he wanted to be caught.

Later that day I came home with groceries. Getting in the house while loaded down with bags is always a challenge. I usually open the door quickly and shove the bags in the doorway with hopes that will block someone from escaping. It doesn’t always work and this time Frankie slipped past me and was off. I dumped the bags in the house and took off after him. Fortunately I had my shoes on this time.

cat Frankie in bushes

This is an older picture of Frankie evading capture because I was not able to get a picture of him this time.

He led me on a good chase and then I lost him. I looked for him for about ten minutes but he was nowhere in sight. Suddenly, I heard a meow and he was standing right behind me, taunting me. I tried to pick him up but he ran and I lost him again. This time he disappeared for a long time. I decided to go in for a few minutes and I opened up a can of wet food and put it in three dishes, even though I only had two cats in the house.

I then went back outside and looked for him again with no luck. I got on my bike and rode around the neighborhood but saw no sign of him. I finally decided I was going to give up for a while and give him time to come home but the sun was starting to get low and I didn’t want him outside in the dark so I took one more walk around to look for him.

This time I saw him about two houses down and walked towards him. When I got close, I could see he was tired and panting and thought it would be easy to catch him but he was not ready to come in. He didn’t run away but he walked very fast. I walked fast too. I didn’t want to run and scare him. Finally after several minutes, he gave up and l picked him up and carried him home. He hissed at me but was happy when we got home because there was food in the bowl waiting for him.

When we can afford it, we want to have a screened area put in at the side door as a buffer zone. Hopefully I won’t lose Frankie before that happens.

 

Photo Friday: Packed and Ready to Go

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This is almost a repeat of last week’s post with Chris and Puck on Rose’s suitcase. She left for a business trip to Las Vegas the Sunday before last. Since her trip was already paid for and since I hadn’t seen my mother and sister in several years, we thought it would be a good idea for Rose to extend her stay and for me to fly to Las Vegas. My mother and sister live near Phoenix and planned to drive, with their husbands,  to meet us.

While I was packing, Puck did what cats always do when a suitcase is out, he climbed inside.

Cat Puck in Suitcase

Does anyone have a cat that does not do this?

Cat and Mouse

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We don”t see many mice around here. This post was from 2013 and I haven’t seen one since. Now we have rabbits outside the house.

Charles Huss's avatarBad Cat Chris

I meant to post this two or three weeks ago but I forgot about it until I noticed the pictures on the camera.

Bad Cat Chris and Puck looking out window

Chris and Puck were going crazy at the front window and I walked over to see what they were so interested in. There was a mouse on our sidewalk. It looked like he was eating a bug and he was totally oblivious to the turmoil he was causing just four feet away. I believe it was the first mouse I have ever seen in the wild, if you can call our sidewalk “The Wild.”

Bad Cat Chris and Puck looking out window at mouse.Mouse outside our windowAfter I took pictures of the little guy, he picked up his bug and moved under the bush, even closer to the cats, still oblivious to their presence. This was like eating a steak in front of a starving man. I actually felt bad for them and almost wanted to open the door…

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Sunshine Blogger Award

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Bad Cat Chris laying in sunshine

A few weeks ago I was honored to be selected for the Sunshine Blogger Award and I have struggled to find the time to acknowledge it until now. It was given to me by Spence’s Girl who has a great blog that is worth checking out.

While I am honored to receive awards like this, I typically don’t perpetuate them but this time I thought It would be fun to follow the first half of the rules which are as follows:

Thank the person who nominated you!
Answer the 11 questions you were asked.
Nominate 11 other bloggers and let them know they were nominated.
Ask the nominees 11 questions

I am not sure where the Sunshine Blogger Award originated. I tried to find the origin but could not. I did find the Liebster Award to be very similar. So anyway, here are my questions:

What is a fun fact about you, never shared until now on your blog? 

I stopped watching television news because it is always too negative. Instead, I get my news from reading headlines on the internet and then choosing what to read, which isn’t much.

Early riser or night owl?

My job has conditioned me to get up early, even on the weekends.

Glass half-empty or half-full?

Three quarters full.

Who is your favorite author?

Warren Murphy, co-creator of the Destroyer series with Richard Sapir. I was friends with him on Facebook but he passed away recently.

What inspires you?

People helping others.

Favorite vacation spot?

St. Augustine, Florida. First went there on my honeymoon and have gone back countless times since.

Peanut butter – crunchy, smooth or peanut allergy?

Smooth but I don’t eat much bread or peanut butter or any more.

If you could tell your younger self one thing, what would it be?

Become friends with Mark Zuckerberg.

Sunrise or sunset?

Both but sunset is easier because I’m usually driving to work when the sun comes up.

Are you a multi-tasker, procrastinator or laser focused?

I am a laser focused procrastinator. I think multi-tasking is the fastest way to get nothing done.

What was the last great movie you’ve seen? (theater, rental or streaming)

I’ve seen some pretty good movies but I have not seen a great movie in recent memory. I was hoping the new Star Wars would be it but… not so much.

The second part requires me to give this award to 11 more bloggers,
which I am not going to do because I don’t want to participate in something that is so close to a chain letter, even though it is a positive chain letter. I also don’t want to have to choose who I like better than the rest. I’m not sure I even know myself, everybody has certain qualities about their blog that I like.

What are your thoughts? I don’t want to seem that I am criticizing those who give out the award. In fact, I really appreciate being thought of for the award and I can see how it can be a great way to make people feel good about what they are doing. I just don’t feel comfortable passing it on myself.