Frankie’s Favorite Spot Becomes Permanent

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Rose bought a sectional sofa from Babcock near the end of 2017. I am sure it was expensive but I never wanted to know how much she paid, given my aversion to spending money on stuff we don’t need. Nevertheless, it is a comfortable sofa and Frankie loves lying at my feet when I have the footrest open. There is a little nook in the footrest that fits Frankie just right. He usually lies in the corner on my left but if I get up for some reason, when I come back I find him stretched out and I then have to sit at an angle.

About a year and a half ago, the pull cord that opens the footrest broke. I tried to contact someone at Badcock about it but I could not get through to a real person. I don’t remember why. It is probable that the wait time was an hour or more and I didn’t want to do it. By the way, if any company says that your call is important to them and then puts you on hold for more than five minutes, they are lying.

I did find an email address for them and sent an email explaining my problem but I never got a response. In the end, I drove up to the store, paid them over $25 for the part, and then had to wait over a month. If I remember right it took way longer than that. I think it came in after we went to West Virginia the first time.

I picked it up and put the piece on after we came home in January of last year. It was the most difficult thing I have done in recent memory. I almost never swear but I was like a drunken sailor that day.

Now, just over one year later it has broken again. Really, less than a year since we did not use the sofa for two months.

I went back to Badcock but the thought of paying twice to fix something that should not have broken once disturbs me. I tried to argue my point to no avail. I did find out that the sofa is an actual Badcock brand and it has a three-year warranty which means I was charged for the first part before the three years was up. I guess I will have to try calling them again.

In the meantime, I have to leave the footrest up and Frankie loves it.

Photo Friday: Double Bed

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I saw Chris and Floki sleeping together in the same bed yesterday and had to get a photo.

I think it is a great picture except the image quality is disappointing. As soon as I downloaded it to my computer and looked at it I decided I should go get my good camera and try again, but when I got up I noticed that Floki had already abandoned his position. I guess I made him nervous taking pictures. Oh well.

Catnip, I have You Now!

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Here is a post from June of 2015 for Throwback Thursday. I think we moved the catnip to a high cabinet after this but that did not stop Chris. Today he is too old and overweight to get to where the catnip is.

Charles Huss's avatarBad Cat Chris

I was making dinner Monday night and I opened a drawer to get something out. When I tried to close the drawer, Chris had both paws over it and I couldn’t push it shut. I could have pushed him off but I had to stir my food and I thought it wouldn’t hurt to let him look for a second. After all, it was just kitchen stuff. What could he possibly want?

I forgot about him for a minute and saw him inside the drawer when I turned around. I thought it was a cute picture so I grabbed my camera to get a picture of him before I got him out of there. I kept calling his name but he wouldn’t lift his head so I could get a good shot. It was then that I realised that he was ripping something apart. I quickly picked him up and…

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Frankie’s Belated Gotcha Day

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I forgot Frankie’s Gotcha Day which was last week on the 9th. Since his chart labeled him as three years old, I also consider it his eleventh birthday. Frankie was actually an early Valentine’s Day gift for my wife in 2014. she wanted a cat instead of jewelry that year. Rose’s previous cat, Puck, became my cat as did Frankie, eventually, which is why we got Floki but I’m getting ahead of myself.

You can read about Frankie’s adoption here. I also posted several photos of Frankie in two posts three years later. See the first one here. I won’t repeat those here but I do want to show some newer photos of Frankie as well as one photo from day one that I forgot about.

Here is Frankie on his first day with a blanket in his mouth.

I thought that habit developed later.

Here he is in 2017 on one of his walks that he loves.

cat looking up tree

Here he is with Floki enjoying the catio we built at a previous home in 2018, days before Puck died.

cute cats on catio

Here he is after one of his many escapes. He uses vehicles to make it difficult for me to catch him. If I get close, he simply backs up where I can’t reach him.

I always consider Chris to be the touchy-feely cat but Frankie has his moments. Here he is with Puck.

We usually see Frankie stretched out.

But sometimes he likes to curl up into a ball.

We are very happy we adopted Frankie and I think he is happy too.

A Day of Double Remembrance

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The day after Valentine’s day is not a good day for memories. In February of 1999, I was informed that my father, who had been receiving treatment for colon cancer on and off for the previous three and a half years, was not doing well. I was on a plane to Chicago a couple of days later.

I arrived on a Friday and my dad seemed okay then but he was worse on Saturday. Valintine’s day was the next day and I thought about getting him a Valentine’s Day card for him to give to my mom. I didn’t have a car so the thought never turned into action but I regret not making the effort.

When I spoke to my sister that day I thought about telling her to cancel her tickets for next month and get on a plane tomorrow. I thought about it but didn’t do it because I had no idea how long my father had left on this Earth. I regret that too because by Monday he was gone.

Recently my mother brought some old photos to me and I would like to share some of my father, Charles Huss Sr.

Here he is back in the 60s. I’m not sure when this was taken but it is possibly before I was born.

Here he is with my mom in 1973.

Here is our family on Dad’s parent’s fiftieth wedding anniversary on New Years Day, 1986.

Here he is in 1994 at my parent’s second home on Pine Island, near Fort Meyer’s, Florida. I helped him plant that tree a few years earlier after he fished a couple of coconuts out of the water.

Finally, here he is in June of 1997 with my mom at my cousin’s wedding.

In 2018, also on the day after Valentine’s day, we lost our sweet boy Puck. You can read my post about it here. My father just turned 59 and Puck had not reached six years old. Both died way too young.

Puck came to us as a kitten after abbey died in 2012. Chris took to him right away and seemed to act like a father figure to him.

Chris greets Puck on his first day as he comes out from under the bed for food.

When Puck was young he would hang out with my wife while she was getting ready for work. Sometimes he would chase a Qtip and then bring them back to her so she could throw it again.

Puck and Chris became close buddies.

Our cats Chris and Puck napping together.

They also played together but they were never mean to each other.

Eventually, Puck started having health issues and was at the vet a lot. He liked to hide behind me while we waited for the vet.

This is one of the last photos of a happy Puck taken on February 11, 2018, the day we finished construction of their new catio. Sadly, Puck did not have much time to enjoy it.

Thank you for indulging me while I share my memories. Despite the untimely endings, these are good memories.

Bunnies, Bunnies Everywhere

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For Throwback Thursday here is a post from June of 2015. We had lots of rabbits in our old neighborhood but not so much where we live now. Perhaps it is because we have more stray cats here.

Charles Huss's avatarBad Cat Chris

bunny rabbitOur new neighborhood is loaded with bunny rabbits. They tend to stay hidden during the day and come out to eat later in the afternoon and evening. Since we have moved here, we have seen them every day not far from our driveway. For some reason, they never seemed to show up on the other side of the house where our enclosed Florida room is. That is the room where the cats love to hang out because it is all windows on three sides.

That changed the other day when a small, adolescent bunny showed up just under one of the windows on the patio. Puck was the first to notice and he went crazy.

Our cat Puck looking out window

Young bunny rabbit

That was three days ago and we haven’t seen them since on that side of the house. I hope in the future the cats will see these bunnies more often.

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Photo Friday: Classic Chris, Abbey, and Tigger

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I dug into the archives and found a group of photos I took eleven years ago today on January 28, 2011. I couldn’t choose the best one so I decided to post three of them, all taken on the same day.

I’m sure Chris was highly annoying to Abbey and Tigger back then. He was like a child who insisted on getting in bed with Mom and Dad. It did make for some cute photos, though.