When planting cats, make sure it is in an area with plenty of sunshine and lots of other plants.
Photo Friday: How to Plant a Cat
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Throwback Thursday: Happy Cat Chris
This post is from November 1, 2016. Those were happy times.
Photo Friday: The Return of the Rocking Chair
The last time we were in West Virginia in 2021, or possibly the time before in 2020, we got a rocking chair at a place called Tamarack. It is a place that sells artisan goods that are made in West Virginia. If memory serves, Rose’s son bought it for her, perhaps as a birthday gift. At $400 it was an expensive rocking chair.
The chair returned with us to Florida at the end of our visit in 2021, when we decided to rent out the house there. We had the movers bring it back when we returned to West Virginia this spring, not expecting to sell the house three months later.
Since the chair was important to Rose, she left it with her manager there with the intention of picking it up during her next business trip. However, she decided she couldn’t wait that long, so she asked her manager to ship the $400 chair back to us for around $650.
It arrived here about eight days ago.
It came with so much cardboard and bubble wrap that I have been putting it in our trash and recycling a little at a time as space allows. I still have bubble wrap to dispose of.
Four O’clock Frankie
The year I started this blog, I wrote about Four O’clock Chris. Now it’s Frankie’s Turn.
Every morning at around 4:00, give or take fifteen minutes, Frankie starts bothering me. It’s subtle at first, maybe he’ll walk across me or bite my cheek. sometimes he will bite me just over the eyes, which hurts. That’s when I will turn around and try to go back to sleep. Frankie will counter by either digging at the sheets or stepping over me so he can get at my face again.
The next phase is the sneezing. You haven’t lived until a cat sneezes on you in the middle of the night. It is almost like he is sneezing on purpose.
Often, he will settle down for a short time if I ignore him, but almost always, between 4:30 and 4:45, the meowing starts. He has had enough, and I must get up or else. So, I get up and feed him.
Later, when 9:00 p.m. rolls around and I’m tired and ready for bed, my wife calls me an old man.
Returning Home
Rose and I spent a long weekend on Anna Maria Island for our 26th anniversary, which is in two days. We hired a cat sitter to come in three times a day. I know, two times is sufficient, but we have spoiled cats. Here is one of the photos she sent us.
The fact that both of our cats were hanging out together was surprising. Perhaps they behave differently when nobody is home.
As we always learn too late but never remember, going away is not as good as staying home. We woke up early Sunday morning and decided to pack up and go home. When I say early, I mean around 4:00 a.m.
Rose didn’t want to get home while the cat sitter was there, so we stopped at Publix to do our shopping. We still arrived too early, so we parked at the library, which is at the end of our street, and waited ten minutes. We left as we saw her car drive by. It felt like we were spies, waiting for our mark to leave so we could bug his house.
As I was bringing our luggage in, Frankie escaped. He first crawled under our car so I couldn’t get him but then came out and raced across the street.
The road that runs along the side of our house is fairly busy, perhaps because many of the amenities, like the library, are located near the end of the street. I try to keep Frankie on our side of the road when we walk so that crossing it doesn’t become a habit. Maybe that’s a bad strategy because that’s the first thing he wants to do when he’s free.
I followed Frankie across the street. I don’t like trespassing on people’s property, but since Frankie isn’t very familiar with the area, I wanted to make sure he didn’t get lost. He went behind the homes and came out on the next street. I managed to herd him back toward our house. It’s amazing how fast an almost fifteen-year-old cat can run.
From the photo above, our house is the first house on the right across the street. When I caught up to Frankie, he took off running. When he reached the street, I saw two cars coming. I waved my arms and yelled, “Stop! Stop! Stop!”
Fortunately, the woman in the lead car had her window open and heard me. She stopped her car as Frankie raced in front of her. I waved and said thank you to the woman. It was quite embarrassing.
Frankie then hid under our car again. Fortunately, he was close enough to the edge that I could grab him and pull him out. Returning home was more of an adventure than going away.
Photo Friday: The Perfect Gift
My wife, Rose, and I will be going away this weekend to celebrate our 26th anniversary, which is actually on this coming Wednesday. She ordered a gift for me and gave it to me early. It is a picture of Chris, hand drawn by an artist we met while up in West Virginia.
It is taken from the picture I used for his book.
My gift to Rose was not as perfect, but it was similar. During our move to West Virginia, the movers lost ten to twenty percent of our stuff. Among the lost was a picture that Rose’s son drew for her of St. Augustine. She was stressing about how she would explain to her son that the picture was lost. I had already found a high-resolution photo that I took of the drawing back in 2014 and guessed it to be 20×24 inches. I then ordered a frame and had a print made.
I wanted to wait until our anniversary to give it to her, but her stress became too great, so I gave it to her last week. I think the original was matted, but I couldn’t find a larger frame with a 20×24 matte.
Throwback Thursday: Best Friends
For some reason, the WordPress “reblog” button brings me to a blank page on both Firefox and Chrome, so I decided to recreate this post from October 28, 2016.
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.,
Photo Friday: Two for One
Today, I have two memories to share with you. The first is Puck and Frankie with Chris in the background. This was taken on October 4, 2014.
You can’t take out a suitcase without attracting the attention of cats.
The second photo is of my grandmother, Sadie, my mom’s mom. She would have been 109 today. This photo was taken in October 1987.
Not coincidentally, Joe, one of the protagonists in my Last Healer Mysteries series, was born on October 3, 1916.
Throwback Thursday: Floki’s Hidden Stash
This post is from October 2016. Nine years later, Floki still chases wads of paper, but not as often as he used to.
Our Newest Cat Toy
Here is an interesting cat toy I found on Amazon for only $10.
The toy moves randomly, which simulates real prey. I found that it really attracted our cats’ interest, but I was hoping it would be a good tool for getting our cats moving. They both can use some exercise, especially Floki, who doesn’t go outside for walks like Frankie does. I suppose the fact that Floki is over nine years old and Frankie is pushing fifteen has something to do with it.
One problem I noticed is that the toy’s tail got stuck on the floor a few times. The floor on our patio is not tile; it’s more like garden stones, which have a rough texture. I don’t know what the toy’s tail is made of, but it tended to stick to the floor like Velcro. I’m sure it would be fine inside the house.
If you are interested, here is a link to what I bought. It is an affiliate link, so if you make a purchase, I will finally be able to buy that yacht I’ve been looking at.
Bad Cat Chris 