I work one day a week in South Tampa and sometimes stop at a Walmart near my job. Several weeks ago I was approached by a friendly black cat as I neared the entrance.
I was at that same Walmart again Wednesday morning and saw the same black cat napping at the door. My first thought was that Walmart hired a security cat that was sleeping on the job. I stopped and pet the cat for a minute before going inside.
I did not know if it was a male or female and thought the cat was either well fed or pregnant. After looking closer at the photo, I think one of the ears is tipped meaning the cat is fixed. I don’t know if Walmart or some of the employees had anything to do with fixing the cat or taking care of her, but if they did then kudos to them.
Here is a post from late 2014 for Throwback Thursday. When we got Frankie early that year Chris was mean to him for several weeks. He then tried to make amends but Frankie didn’t trust him for a long time.
Chris is still hard at work trying to turn Frankie from an enemy to a friend. I am happy to say he has made significant progress these last few months. It is Chris’s behavior toward Frankie when we adopted him that turned Frankie into an enemy and it is now Chris’s behavior that is slowly turning him into a friend.
I was surprised and disappointed in Chris’s attitude when we brought Frankie home but now I am very proud that he is trying to be friends. Just like in the human world, it takes many good acts to erase one bad one and Chris has worked for many months to erase weeks of bad behavior.
They have been laying close to each other for a few months lately but not too close. last week I saw them both napping with Chris’s head against Frankie’s back. I tried to get a picture but…
I took Frankie out for a walk on Saturday. Everything went well for the first ten minutes or so. He did the usual. He smelled some plants, rolled in the grass and sat and listened to the birds.
We ended up near our community’s clubhouse about a half block from home when a nearby car’s alarm went off. Frankie didn’t do anything at first, he just seemed concerned. Then, after a few seconds, he started running.
I should note here that anything other than a very gentle tug on the leash will cause Frankie to turn toward me and then back away with as much force as he can muster. This always leads to him slipping out of his harness, which is extremely easy to put on but not secure when Frankie backs up. Because of that I always try to keep pace with Frankie. If he runs, I run. Usually he hears the sound of my footsteps and that freaks him out a bit so he stops and looks around. That is what happened Saturday when he started running.
After he stopped and looked around, the alarm was still going off so he started running again, and again he stopped when he heard me. By then we were far enough away from the car and the alarm may have been stopped, I don’t remember. I just remember that I thought the running was over so I loosened my grip on the leash. Just then he started running and the leash slipped from my hand.
He was heading straight for home and running at full speed. I tried to keep up but couldn’t. I assumed when he reached our house he would wait by the front door until I could open it. He didn’t. Instead I watched him squeeze through a small hole and go under our house.
He has done that before and it is always a concern but this time it was especially scary to me because he was dragging a leash behind him. I had no Idea how far under the house he would go or what, if anything, the leash might get caught on while he was under there.
When I got home I immediately peeked through the hole and saw he was just sitting there, about three or four feet in. I pulled some bricks away to make the hole bigger and tried to talk him out of there but he wasn’t having it. He seemed nervous, which is unusual for Frankie because he pretty much ignores the vacuum cleaner and barely notices when the garbage truck comes by for our trash.
I fed them a short time before we went out but I thought I might entice him out with some tuna that I bought recently for a special treat for them. I went in the house, opened the can and put it on three plates, because Chris and Floki smelled it and were in the kitchen waiting for some. I put two plates down then brought the third plate outside and put it in front of Frankie’s nose but he ignored it and instead was more concerned with what was happening across the street.
I gave him some time and after about five minutes he decided to come out but his right paw was stuck in the harness. Fortunately he was able to move close enough for me to pull him out. During all that excitement, I forgot to take pictures.
After I put him in the house I went back out and got his plate of tuna. He eagerly ate it all. All’s well that ends well, I guess.
I am not sure how Floki’s bed ended up next to Chris’s, it was probably moved while cleaning, but I thought it was cute seeing the two of them close together but still in their own space.
Some say cats don’t feel jealousy but I don’t believe it. Chris shows every sign of being more jealous than almost any human I know. A good example of that would be when another cat lies on my lap. If Chris sees that, he will immediately get on my lap too and he always places himself between me and the other cat.
The good news is that Chris is not mean about it. It’s not like he caught his wife with another man. It is more like he caught his wife with the last bag of potato chips and he wants her to share before they are gone.
By the way, my blog post about my vacation is finally out. If anyone is interested, click here.
Chris has always been good at annoying people and cats alike but this past year his annoyance level seems well above what it has been in the past. Knowing that, I couldn’t help but laugh at seeing Chris on the receiving end for a change. I think I spent a good two or three minutes laughing before I thought to record what was happening. I managed to capture the last thirty seconds of Floki annoying Chris. Enjoy.
I usually don’t jump out of bed and then make it. There is some time for relaxing and enjoying a cup of coffee. During that time at least one cat will often decide to nap on the bed. Three cats sleeping on the bed when I need to make it is rare and a good reason to put off the task.
Of course, I can never put it off until the next day so I guess it is not very helpful.
This picture looks like Frankie is recovering from a bad day at work. Of course, most people don’t come home after a bad day and air out their private parts. Most people.
Since returning from West Virginia, Frankie and Chris have enjoyed much more outside time, although not as much as they would like. Our trips outside usually start with Frankie who gets really excited when he knows, or thinks he knows, when I am getting ready to take him out. My wife has to get him even more excited by saying things like, “Are you going outside, Frankie? Oh boy, you’re going outside!”
Once outside, after the initial excitement wears off, we usually spend time smelling stuff, especially plants.
When the smelling is done it is time to lie in the dirt.
Sometimes he pulls a Harry Houdini on me and starts to slip out of his harness.
When that happens it is usually too risky to try to fix it “in the field” so I will pick him up and carry him home while he hisses at me the whole way there. Usually, by that time we already had a good walk and Chris is at home waiting for his turn.
The first thing Chris does when he gets outside is do the “happy roll.” This is something I never see him do inside.
He then does a little exploring but he usually stays close to home which is why he doesn’t need a harness, although I still need to watch him because he sometimes wanders away.
Eventually he finds some grass to munch on.
After that he sometimes lies down for a few minutes and is then ready to go inside. I don’t have to carry him home while being hissed at.
Bad Cat Chris 