Category Archives: Uncategorized

Florida, Here We Come

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It is now 6:30 on Saturday morning as I start this post. Ten minutes ago we left our home in West Virginia and ate heading back to our home in Florida. Getting to this point wasn’t easy.

I think what caused me the most stress was worrying about getting Floki in the crate before he ran under the bed. My idea was to feed them in the empty bedroom and then put them all in the crates when we finished everything we had to do.

I woke up at 3:00 this morning and couldn’t get back to sleep because I was worrying about carrying the crates down the stairs, especially the big one with Chris and Floki. I am sure the handle was not designed for that weight and I didn’t want to drop them down the stairs.

I also knew I had litter boxes to clean since we didn’t want to leave with old litter in the box. Actually, Rose didn’t want to do that. I cleaned two of the four boxes last night. I figured I would clean one this morning, which I did, but the last one would have to wait until the cats were in their crates.

Rose couldn’t sleep either so we got up at four and decided not to lock the cats in the bedroom. I fed them and spent the time preparing to close up the house and get stuff ready to go out to the car, including cleaning our giant litter pan.

I then started loading the car. There was way too much stuff for Rose’s little car and didn’t know how I was going to fit everything. I had the car  more than half filled when Rose stuck her head out the door and said “We have a big problem.”

Since we had to put the top down to fit the crates in the back set she reminded me the trunk had to be empty to put the top down. Since it is a hard top it takes up room in the trunk when it’s down.

So I had to empty everything that was in the trunk. As I was doing that Rose informed me she caught Floki and put him in the crate. I went inside and helped get Chris, who we put with Floki, and the Frankie, when is flying solo. I then put the last litter box in a big garbage bag.

Rose put the top down and I put the cats in the car. I then loaded the trunk, which is as full as it can be, took out the trash, double checked the  house and left.

Forty five minutes has gone by since I started writing and Floki is still crying. Wish us luck.

The Return of the Heated Pet Mat

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A couple of years ago I reviewed the Art of Paws Heated Pet Mat. The cats seemed to like the mat but living in Florida we really didn’t have enough cold days for it to be useful. I think shortly after I got it I removed the heating part of it and just used it as a cat pad. We had it on our coffee table and Floki used it quite often there.

We brought it with us to West Virginia along with the heating element. I used it as a pad to one of the cat crates during the trip here and it fit perfectly.

When we got here and realized how cold it was I reinserted the heating element and plugged it in. It was a big success.

All three cats took turns lying on it and often there were two cats at a time on it. I have no photos of Floki lying on the mat for some reason but I assure you he was just as interested at Chris and Frankie.

We will be heading back to Florida on Saturday and I plan on bringing the pad with us but I will leave the heating element here.

Stray Cats Everywhere

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When we moved into our new home in West Virginia we met several people who were happy to talk about the house, the neighbors, and the town. I will write about the house soon but for now, I want to talk about stray cats. They are everywhere around us. Even so, I have yet to get a photograph of one because I usually see them from a distance or when I am not ready with a camera.

One guy talked about our next door neighbor feeding strays like it was a bad thing. One day, while I was bringing the trash to the alley, I counted four cats and a kitten in the back yard of the house behind us. As far as the neighbors next door, I have only occasionally seen a stray or two there but I was able to get a video of a confrontation between two cats. I first heard the howling sounds that cats make when meeting another cat that they don’t know. I then saw them out the bathroom window at the house next door. I expected a fight but it never happened.

My office is upstairs in the back of the house and I often will see a cat walk by, sometimes through our yard and sometimes next door or across the alley. Once, after it snowed, I saw cat tracks that came right up to our back door.

A couple of weeks after we moved in my wife somehow became Facebook friends with the woman who lives behind us. She said that a woman died at a nearby home who had 14 cats. When the son came to clean out her home he just dumped the cats outside. So, being a caring person, she felt compelled to take care of them. Strangely, we have yet to meet her in person. We bought two cases of wet food for her but when I brought them to her house, nobody was home. I also brought cookies over there for Christmas but only her son was home then.

There are other kind people too on the block. One neighbor said there are at least three people who care for cats but I don’t know if they all care for the same 14 cats or if there is more than one colony here. One man, we were told, leaves a heater on in his garage for the cats. If we were permanent residents I would not be opposed to leaving food out on the back porch and perhaps a shelter too but I wouldn’t want to get cats dependent on me and then leave.

I am glad to know there are many caring people in this neighborhood. I have always felt like most people are good but the bad ones seem to get the most recognition.

On another note. We are planning to head back to Florida this Saturday. This time we will have to cram the two cat crates in the back seat of my wife’s car, where they just barely fit. While it will be an easier trip than coming up here in the moving truck, I am concerned that the only way in or out for the crates is by putting the convertible top down. This could be a problem in an emergency. Let us pray there is no emergency.

Photo Friday: Puzzled

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Happy New Year to all our readers. Hopefully 2021 will be a good year for everyone.

I bought my wife a 1000 piece puzzle of Neuschwanstein Castle for Christmas and no, it was not the only thing I bought for her. I just thought it would be something nice to do together instead of watching television. Her son and his girlfriend came on Christmas eve for a week and we all worked on it together, on and off, finishing it in just over two days.

Of course Frankie had to help, too.

I have never made an online puzzle before but I thought this would be a good excuse to try it.

Click here for puzzle

Chris Remembers His Youth

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I stopped working three of my four jobs before moving to our new home but I feel like I now have less time than ever. This post, for example, probably should have been written two weeks ago.

I don’t remember what prompted me to pick up Chris and put him on my shoulders like I did when he was young. Perhaps he “asked” me to pick him up by clawing at my leg. However it happened, he ended up on my shoulders just before I walked from the kitchen to the dining room. Along the way, I passed the China Cabinet. If anyone has been reading this blog long enough to have seen the post named Chris’s Springboard could probably guess what happened next.

Chris used me as a springboard and jumped to the top of the China Cabinet.

I was surprised Chris was able to get up there given his age and weight but he seemed to manage just fine. I’m not sure then why I have to pick him up when he wants to get on my lap.

Since it is “kitty see kitty do” in our house Frankie also had to get on my shoulders and then up onto the China cabinet.

Next up was Floki. He got on my shoulders but was too scared to make the leap onto the cabinet. He does have a reputation for being a bit of a scaredy cat and this did not help it.

Chris has slowed down these last couple of years but it is good to know he still has some of that youthful spirit in him.

Cat Beds for All

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Last week we took a drive to Parkersburg. It is about 45 minutes from home but if you need to do any serious shopping at a store that is not Walmart than that is where you need to go. I think we needed to go to Home Depot and Rose wanted to do some Christmas shopping at T.J. Maxx.

I bought Rose an Advent calendar a couple of years ago and gave her a gift for each day on the calendar, 24 in all. Now it has become a tradition so I need to come up with 24 gifts for her every December plus a birthday gift four days after Christmas. So I was happy to go to T.J. Maxx to look for gifts for her.

While I was looking I saw a cat bed there that looked pretty cozy. There was only one so I couldn’t get one for each of our cats but I wasn’t even sure if anyone would like it. They did.

Chris, of course, took it over.

Frankie and Floki did, eventually, get a turn.

After we moved in we let the cats sleep with us for several nights but Chris is far too annoying at night so now we have to close our door before we go to bed. I thought it would be nice if there were three cat beds outside our door so a few days ago I picked up two more while we were in Walmart. The new ones are a little bit smaller but Chris still manages to fit and he seems happy with them.

I have not yet seen all three cats enjoying the cat beds at the same time but I like to think that is where they are at night.

My Little Helpers

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My wife ordered a mattress and bed frame for one of our bedrooms. The mattress arrived in time for guests but the bed frame was delayed. It arrived last week and I was tasked with putting it together. A normal bed frame can be put together in five minutes with another five or ten minutes to attach the headboard and footboard. Of course, my wife never buys anything that is easy to put together.

I opened the box and was just overwhelmed by all the pieces. I imagined a nuclear submarine had fewer parts. Fortunately, Frankie was there to offer assistance.

Frankie must have realized that this job needed more that one snoopervisor so he called in Floki.

Eventually, both of them got bored so Chris came in to take over.

When I was close to being done Frankie and Floki came back to check my progress.

By the time I was finished more than two hours after I started, I was alone.

A day or two later, a box arrived with a desk for Rose. She bought an antique desk a couple of weeks ago and decided she didn’t like that I had nothing to do so she ordered a desk with twice and many parts as the nuclear bedframe.

Again, Frankie was first to offer help but soon Floki was there to help too.

Then Chris came to supervise the supervisors.

This project took me almost four hours to complete. The boys tried to stay focused but five minutes at a time was all they could muster. To there credit, they would each come back and check on me from time to time.

I just don’t know why these things always need to be so complicated. I think the designers forgot the K.I.S.S. principal of design (keep it simple, stupid).

To add insult to injury, the next day a big box showed up at the door. I dragged it inside and saw it was a bedframe. I thought it was a mistake. The company must have made an error. But nope, Rose ordered it for a bed that already had a bedframe. You know, one of those five minute frames. It just needed a headboard and footboard and it didn’t even need that. Who cares if one of the two guest beds doesn’t have a headboard? You just don’t want guests to get too comfortable.

I guess after I recover from the last two assembly projects, I will put it together. At least I know I will have three little helpers to make it easier . . . or harder.