I get notifications from Google and Microsoft highlighting photos from this day. Today I saw this one that I didn’t remember from 2015.
I then noticed a video from the same time. I checked YouTube to see if I had posted it there. I did.
I also noticed another video from earlier that month that was still marked as a draft. It was a video of Frankie’s first time on a leash and harness. I don’t know why that video was older than the one above. Perhaps I had too much trouble with that harness so I decided to continue to let Frankie out without a leash. I did put it on upside down that time and didn’t notice until we were outside.
After these videos, Frankie proved too much of a wild spirit and would take off far beyond the backyard. Because we lived close to a main road, I had to start using a harness every time he went outside.
I usually get up early and work on my business before going to work. Sundays I can just sit up in bed and relax. It’s also a good time for Frankie to relax as only Frankie can.
Our neighborhood is having a community yard sale today. We wanted to get rid of stuff and planned to participate but after a long, hard day of work yesterday I told Rose I just wanted to relax and skip the yard sale. I said we could just donate everything and Rose agreed.
Early this morning I was awakened by a loud noise. It sounded like someone was dragging something heavy across the floor. A few minutes later Rose woke me up and said, “I changed my mind, we have too much (stuff) that we need to get rid of. We need to move our cars before all the spots are gone.” I looked at the clock. It was 5 a.m. Ugh!
I hurt my back a few days ago so moving everything outside was a bit of a struggle. Once everything was outside and my chores were done I decided to take Frankie for a walk. We left the house at 6:40, which is probably the earliest we ever went for a walk.
We were out for almost a half hour and ended up about a block from home. I didn’t want to go further because I almost always have to carry him home. So I picked him up and headed home. It was a struggle because not only was my back hurting, I developed a pain in my leg because of the way I was walking with my back pain. It was a struggle getting home and it didn’t help that Frankie was struggling and hissing for half the walk.
We are now sitting outside and Frankie is keeping watch at the window.
We adopted Frankie on February 15, 2014. I realized I forgot last week but I was busy and distracted. Pretty much normal for me.
I don’t think I ever published the first photo I ever took of Frankie. We saw him at a Petsmart in Clearwater, Florida. Rose was actually looking for a female cat but couldn’t resist Frankie’s charm.
Rose calls him a liar now because he put on the charm for her in the shelter and soon after we got home, when this photo was taken, but now he is my cat.
We don’t know much about Frankie’s history. He only had a number, no name. His chart said he was three years old, which means he is twelve now but he still acts like a kitten sometimes.
I have known for a while that cats learn behaviors from other cats. In our house, Chris is always the teacher. Puck and Frankie learned about getting on my shoulders from Chris. Puck learned how to get on top of cabinets from Chris. Frankie learned from Chris that hiding under cars prevents capture. This morning, Frankie learned the lazy way to eat breakfast from Chris.
Okay, so Frankie is not technically a polecat but he can be considered a pole cat.
I don’t know what kind of pole dance he was doing here. Since this was shortly after our encounter with the stray, perhaps he was trying to lure her back.
We took our Christmas tree down on New Year’s Day. I have a large orange bag that the tree goes in for storage. After I got a section of the tree in the bag, Frankie got inside to supervise the operation.
Sunday afternoon I was bringing a handful of laundry outside to the washing machine in our shed. I had just fed the cats and saw Frankie in the kitchen with his head in the food bowl. I figured it was safe to open the door, which I did quickly, and turned around to walk out backward so I could catch Frankie if he tried to get out. I obviously did it wrong because there was a second between when I cracked the door open and when I was turned around enough to see Frankie’s tail wiz past me.
He immediately went under a vehicle so I couldn’t catch him.
I talked to him nicely and managed to coax him out a bit.
I should have tried to grab him then but I worried if I missed I would never catch him. Instead, I had an idea. I went back into the house and grabbed his harness. When I got close, I pulled it apart. He knows that the sound of the velcro means he is going for a walk so he came out and let me put it on. Unfortunately, I was rushed and put it on upside down. In the process of trying to reverse it, I nearly freaked him out a little. Before he got too nervous I turned it around and soon we were walking.
We did some sitting too.
We made our way to the clubhouse where I think a bingo game just ended. There was an old lady in a car with the window down marveling at a cat on a leash. I talked to her for a minute but Frankie was interested in the door that was propped open. He stuck his head inside to the delight of another two older ladies.
Eventually, we made it back relatively close to home, perhaps half a block. Frankie decided to take a rest in someone’s yard.
I let him stay for a short time but since he was literally against someone’s house I decided to pick him up and bring him home before we got yelled at.
In my last post, I reported that I started an indoor herb garden but had to put the catnip plant outside because it wasn’t safe inside with three cats. Well, it turns out that outside is no better. This is what I saw when I got in my car to go to work yesterday morning.
I was concerned that the feral cat might get it but I was not sure if the cat was even still around, as I hadn’t seen her, or him, in quite a while. I guess now I know.
Bad Cat Chris 