Floki is the laundry king, and his throne is warm laundry, straight from the dryer.
Photo Friday: The Laundry King
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Tag Archives: cat
Floki Likes “The Star”
Rose and I were watching an animated movie called The Star on Christmas Eve. Floki decided he liked the movie and watched it with us for a good fifteen minutes.
He then walked over to Rose, got two minutes’ worth of attention, then returned to the coffee table to watch more of the movie.
No Rest For the Weary
It has been a week since I threw out my back. Technically, I hurt it a little last Saturday, but Monday Morning, I hurt it a lot. I could barely move for three whole days. Here is Frankie Monday morning demanding I take him for a walk.
Frankie has a habit of sitting and staring when he wants something. It really is effective, but this time I couldn’t help him. How do you explain to a cat who is used to getting morning walks that he can’t go out?
I am feeling about fifty percent better today and was able to take Frankie for a walk this morning and yesterday morning, which I’m thankful for, and so is Frankie.
Unfortunately, my bad back meant that I couldn’t ride in the car today, as my wife went to visit her 92-year-old dad on the other side of the state. He fell on Monday and ended up in the hospital. Now he is in a rehabilitation center and may not ever be able to go back to his house.
In other news, I finished the script for the fifth installment of my Last Healer Mysteries series called “Last Hope.” While I am involved in getting an artist to create the cover, I have decided to release on Amazon a short story I wrote, titled “Repeat.” It is available for free as an e-book today and tomorrow. Click here to get a copy. It is a fifteen to twenty-minute read, and I think you will enjoy it, especially the twist at the end.
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: Lecture
We came across an arrogant squirrel the other day who gave Frankie a good talking to.
Chris’s Final Resting Place
After waiting a year, I finally spread Chris’s remains in front of our house on the anniversary of his death. It felt good to finally put him to rest.
A year ago, I did not want to spread his remains at our current home because I suspected we would not live there much longer. I was right. We moved into our new home the day after Christmas.
At the time, I thought since he never lived at our new home, it would be more appropriate to spread his ashes at our West Virginia home, where he loved hanging out on the catio. Unfortunately, we had problems from the moment we arrived there at the end of May. I soon felt that we would not own that house for very much longer. I didn’t know we would sell it three months later. I suspected we would put it up for sale at the end of our stay in October, or maybe at the end of our stay the following year. In any case, I decided to bring Chris home to Florida.
My wife came outside with me to take photos. I opened the container. A few ashes came out, then nothing.
I looked inside and saw everything had hardened into one clump.
It felt disrespectful but I tapped the container on the sidewalk several times and tried again. It worked.
It felt wrong to throw away the container, so I dug a hole and buried it in front of our catio.
We have a nice front yard. Our driveway is at the back of the house. The front faces an empty lot that is owned by the six homes in our little association. Our house is at the end, so we also have more room on one side of our house. The original plan when the homes were built in the sixties was to have ten homes surrounding a courtyard. There are several associations just like that down our street. For some unknown reason, four homes were never built, leaving us with a unique natural area in front of our house.
What do you think? Do you like the spot I chose for Chris?
One Year Without Chris
We lost Chris exactly a year ago on September 7, 2024. Our home has not been the same without him. He was like a feline patriarch. He was the reason our cats slept together.
We don’t see this anymore. Occasionally, Frankie and Floki might be on the bed together, but rarely close.
When I think of Chris, I think of two different eras. There was the skinny era, where Chris caused trouble wherever he went, and he went everywhere. He was able to get on top of things that seemed impossible for any normal cat. He was also able to open almost any door. He even shocked me one day when he came through our locked bedroom door.
Then there was fat Chris. That was when he slowed down and didn’t do the crazy things he used to do. He napped more during those times, which resulted in more photo opportunities like the one above. He was also jealous of Frankie, which I found humorous. I was never sure if he was jealous that Frankie was paying attention to me or that I was paying attention to Frankie.
Chris was the most affectionate cat ever. Unfortunately, that affection involved kneading, which had to be on bare skin. Even though it was painful at times, I miss it.
I even miss the biting.
Chris was one of a kind and will always be missed.
An Unwanted Guest
My stepson, Nick, and his fiancée, Chandra, arrived late yesterday for a week-long visit. They brought along their French bulldog, Cindy. As I was helping bring their stuff in from the car, I witnessed a meeting between Frankie and Cindy. Cindy was on our catio, and Frankie was in the laundry room. The door was open, and they were both face-to-face, seemingly smelling each other.
I thought to myself, Oh, that meeting went better than I envisioned it. Just then, all hell broke loose. Frankie started whacking Cindy relentlessly. He chased her onto the catio and under the table, where he continued his assault. I tried to get Frankie while Rose and Chandra tried to get Cindy. We were delayed because it was difficult getting them from under the table. When we finally did pick them up, we had to remove Frankie’s claw from Cindy’s back. During the scuffle, Frankie got me. too.
We kept them separated for a while, with Frankie outside while Cindy was inside, and then with Cindy outside while Frankie was inside. One time, Frankie was on the Catio while Cindy was in the yard.
I did bring Frankie in on a leash at one point, hoping to introduce them in a more controlled environment. That went okay, but certainly no friendship developed.
Later, Frankie was outside when our neighbor’s dog went crazy, trying to bust through the fence to get at Frankie. I decided he needed to come in at that point.
Once inside, Frankie and Floki met to plan their next move.
I don’t remember exactly what happened next, but a few minutes later another one-sided fight occurred, this time under the dining room table, and again, my hand got in the way.
Later, we sat in the living room for a while with Cindy on Chandra’s lap with a pillow over her for protection while Frankie lay in a chair giving her the evil eye.
I don’t know how we are going to last a week.
Photo Friday: Bedtime Attention
My wife and I usually hang out in the bedroom for a half hour or so before going to bed. This is often the time Frankie comes looking for attention, although it is not the only time. Here he is a few nights ago.
Photo Friday: Classic Princess
Today’s post should be called Photos Friday because I found several photos of Princess dated August 2001. Since we are selling our West Virginia home, we have no room in the car to bring back the two large storage containers of old photographs, nor do we have room to store them in our little one-bedroom home in Florida. So, I have been sorting through them, keeping the best ten percent. Here are a few photos of Princess that are keepers.
The last photo is Vinny with Princess.
On another note, I decided to release some of my books as audiobooks on YouTube. I started with The Last Healer. There will be a new chapter released every Tuesday and Friday at 7 p.m. The first two chapters are here.
I would appreciate it if you would subscribe to help get the channel started. The more likes and subscribers I get, the more YouTube will recommend it to others. You can listen to up to Chapter 4, with Chapter 5 coming out this evening.
Bad Cat Chris 