Author Archives: Charles Huss

Back to the Vet for Chris

My wife noticed around the middle of last week that Chris’s eye looked a little pink. She had some eye medication from another time that Chris or one of our other cats had an eye infection so we put that in Chris’s eye for a couple of days but it didn’t seem to help. I made an appointment for him on Thursday and on Friday afternoon I brought him to the vet.

Our concern was that it was pink eye or something like that and he would spread it to the other cats but the vet didn’t seem to think it was contagious. He asked me if he was scratching his eye, which I hadn’t noticed. It didn’t occur to me until later that maybe the problem was caused by a scratch.

Whatever the issue, he gave us a tube of medicine and we have been putting it in his eye. He hates it when we do that and he also hates it when I put medicine in his ears and now we have to do both. In two days I have not noticed much of an improvement. Hopefully it will get better before we have to leave for West Virginia.

If all goes well, and so far it hasn’t, we will be closing on Wednesday and leaving on Thursday morning.

Also, my computer has been acting up lately and today it won’t start. I tried using my rescue disk but that doesn’t work either so I posted this using my phone. I am not a big fan of working from my phone so I may not be as active for a while but I will try to keep you posted about our move.

Chris’s Real Eleventh Gotcha Day

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Ten days ago I posted about Chris’s eleventh Gotha Day but it seems I was having a senior moment and didn’t know what day it was. Chris’s real Gotcha Day is today, November fourteenth, not November fourth. It’s amazing what a difference adding a one can make.

What made me realize my mistake was the photo below that came up on my Facebook app on Thursday and said “Eleven Years Ago.”

This is a photo of Chris when he first met Rose at the shelter. You can see he was never shy. I looked at the date which was November 12th and thought two things. First I thought that Chris’s Gotcha Day was two days away so why did I write a post about it last week? I then thought it was weird that that photo was from November 12th and not November 14th.

After thinking about it I realized Rose met Chris much earlier. I looked it up and saw this photo was taken October 3rd, six weeks before we adopted Chris. Back then we didn’t post to Facebook from our phones and I probably posted that photo when we decided to adopt him.

In case you are wondering why it took so long it was because we had a cruise planned in October which took us back to Florida for more than a week. We couldn’t adopt a new cat and then leave. After we returned, Rose had to go to Alabama on a business trip. I think we brought Chris home the day after Rose returned from Alabama.

It is amazing that Chris was available for such a long time considering how loveable and affectionate he has always been. One reason, I think, is because he was adopted and then returned because he was too annoying for the couple who adopted him. That probably put a stain on his record. I know that happened but I don’t remember if that happened before I met him or in between this photo and the day we took him home.

In either case, I consider ourselves lucky to have found such a unique and special cat. In spite of his behavior, or perhaps because of it, he has been a real blessing in our lives.

Photo Friday: Kittens at the Shelter

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Since I am taking a break from volunteering due to our pending move, I thought I would share some memories from the shelter. Here are three kittens. I do not know if they are siblings. They probably are but sometimes more than one litter is put in the same pod.

These photos were taken six weeks ago so I am sure they have homes by now. If you want to see cute cats and kittens like these on a regular basis, I would recommend volunteering at a shelter. Sometimes all they need is someone to pay attention to the animals there. Bring a coffee with you and it would be like going to a cat café for free.

Riding the Storm Out

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We were hit by Tropical Storm Eta yesterday evening. I once heard that there is an old Indian legend that says there is something under the ground in the Pinellas County, Florida area that repels hurricanes. Indeed, we have never had a direct hit by a hurricane but maybe a tropical storm doesn’t qualify. I’m not sure where the center of the storm hit but I know it was north of us, perhaps in the next county, preserving the legend. In either case, it was pretty windy for a long time.

We have a a large oak tree next to our house and I think the wind was causing branches to fall on our roof so every couple of minutes we would hear a loud bang. Frankie and Floki were not exactly scared but the noise did seem to cause them concern.

Chris, on the other hand, was sleeping in the Florida room, totally oblivious to the noise. I wanted to get a photo of him napping but I made the mistake of turning the light on and woke him up

We decided to go to bed at around 10 p.m. That is when our power went out. Rose insisted we leave the bedroom door open for air circulation even though Chris is a pain in the butt.

He was actually not too bad at first but then fighting off his attacks became too much and I had to put him down off the bed. He, of course, didn’t stay down and by 1 a.m. I couldn’t take it anymore.

I got up and got the power inverter that I bought for last year’s hurricane season and plugged in one of my Ryobi 40 volt batteries. I then plugged in a fan and brought it into the bedroom and closed the cats out.

That worked good but by 4 a.m. the battery had died and we were both uncomfortably hot so I plugged in my other battery but by then we couldn’t go back to sleep.

We got up and I tried making coffee but it was too much for the battery so I ended up going to Dunkin Donuts for coffee after they opened.

We are now in the car heading to Lakeland where Rose has a property that she oversees. I assume our power will be back by the time we return but just in case I brought my batteries with to charge.

Update: I was wrong and the storm did not make landfall near me. It looks like it moved north along the coast and then made landfall 100 miles away as the state curves to the west.

Photo Friday: Following Frankie

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I saw Chris lying with Frankie the other day and thought it was too cute to not get a photo.

A little wile later I saw the two of them lying on the sofa just to the right of where they were, the area known as “my spot.” I was busy and did not get a photo of that.

Later in the day they moved to the right again to “Rose’s spot.”

I never saw them move but I know enough about them to know that Frankie moved to get a break from Chris but it didn’t work.

Our Move is Delayed

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We were supposed to close on our new home yesterday but at 6 p.m. the evening before, while we were out at dinner with my son and his girlfriend, my wife got a message saying they need paperwork from ten years ago. It is unbelievable how they can tell us everything is good to go and then suddenly need something at the last minute. We went home and looked but we didn’t have it. I thought it was super minor but it was enough for the loan to not go through. Why didn’t they know this before we paid $1000 for a survey and termite treatment? We also now have the power in our name for a house we don’t own,

So now we are starting over with another loan and the closing was pushed back two weeks. Or would that be pushed forward? Our house is upside down right now and our refrigerator is bare but we have to carry on like this for two more weeks. At least the cats don’t mind.

We have friends in Virginia that are planning to give us their dining room set. It is something they got from us many moves ago and now it is coming full circle. They had planned on coming to visit us on the 21st which puts us in a time crunch. We now have to rent the truck on closing day and be on the road on Thursday the 19th. If the house doesn’t close I will have a truck loaded with stuff and nowhere to go. Wish us luck.

Chris’s Eleventh Gotcha Day

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Eleven years ago today we brought Chris home from the shelter. He took over our home from the day we opened his carrier. Here is what that looked like.

He has slowed down since then but he may actually be more annoying now then ever. His annoying behavior though is endearing, just like his naughty behavior was when we adopted him.

Preparing to Move

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Everything is progressing in the process of us purchasing a home in West Virginia although I won’t say it’s going smoothly. It seems every other day they want a new piece of paperwork that proves one thing or disproves something else. The most recent request is something we gave them weeks ago but they are too lazy or incompetent to look through what they have. Because of that, they delayed the closing by five days but we are still on schedule to head up there as planned on the first Saturday of November.

As mentioned in a previous post, I bought two cat crates, put the big crate together, and several days later I assembled the smaller crate. I left them in the house with the hopes that the cats would get used to them. It worked. I put the small crate on top of the big crate and I have seen Chris napping in both.

He especially likes the smaller one for some reason.

Frankie and Floki are more likely to be seen near or on top of the crates.

We also wanted them to have water during the trip but a water bowl is not possible so I bought a couple of water bottles like you would have for a gerbil. I have read that cats will drink from a water bottle but, of course, they probably have to learn what a water bottle is first. I put water in one of them and put it in the smaller crate. I turned the nozzle forward so that nobody will lose an eye during a hard brake. I don’t think anyone has noticed it is there yet.

We have been packing for the move but are only taking some things because we plan on coming back to Florida. Even so, it seems like a full move. Wednesday I took the bed apart in our spare bedroom because we are taking that bed and because we needed room for boxes. When I did, Frankie jumped on top of the mattress and Chris was clawing at it like he wanted to get up there with Frankie but couldn’t.

I felt bad because when Chris was young and slim he could get onto places that our other cats wouldn’t attempt (I will post some examples at the end of this post). Rose suggested I build him “stairs” and I thought that was a great idea so I did.

Once Chris realized he had a way up he wasted no time getting on top of the mattress. I think he even took a nap up there.

Of course, Floki also discovered that laying on a flipped up mattress was pretty cool.

I am not looking forward to a two-day drive in a moving truck with cats between us while towing a car. We then have to inspect the house when we get there before letting the cats out because we have never seen it in person and need to make sure there isn’t anywhere a cat might get stuck or get out. I think we could use all the luck we can get.

Here are some posts from Chris’s prime when he could jump.

The Great Escape

Copy Cats

Chris’s Springboard

Chris Takes the High Ground