Tag Archives: cat

Returning Home

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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.

Chris’s Final Resting Place

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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

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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

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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: Classic Princess

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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.

Frankie and I were attacked by a Pitbull

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I started helping out last week with painting at the apartment complex my wife oversees. That means Frankie has not been going for a walk everyday. Because of that, Rose insisted I take Frankie for a walk before work on Friday.

We live on a corner lot. The main road going into town runs along the side of our house. Frankie crossed the main road right away and we continued walking away from the main road.

After a block and a half it became clear Frankie had no intention of turning around. He might be the cat version of Lewis and Clark. I had to pick him up and change his direction.

When we were about four houses from home, we heard a dog barking near the corner house on the right, which is kitty-corner to our house. When we got a little closer, a Pitbull came trotting toward us, barking the whole time. I looked but no people were around.

When he got closer, Frankie hissed at him. I knew he was after Frankie so I picked him up and held him out of reach. The dog jumped on me, putting his paws my back and arms, while barking and trying to get at Frankie. I turned and yelled, “Stop,” but that just seemed to anger him more.

I walked faster toward home with the dog jumping on me and biting my calves. Fortunately I was wearing blue jeans instead of the shorts I normally wear in Florida. That, and the fact that I was moving made it hard for him to sink his teeth into my legs.

I was getting worried and called out for the dog’s owner but no response. If the dog started taking chunks out of my leg, I was going to have to do something drastic, like kick it in the face, and I didn’t want to have to hurt the animal.

When I reached the main street I heard cars coming. I hoped they would be a distraction. I quickly crossed the street. When I looked back the dog was lingering on the other side. I didn’t know if he would cross but I didn’t wait around to find out.

When I got inside I told Rose what happened and then put soap on my bleeding elbow. I think the dog got me with his nails. We still haven’t seen our moving truck so we had no antiseptic.

I then grabbed my lunch and went to the car. As I was backing out of the driveway, I saw Frankie walking down the sidewalk toward me. Really? I have no idea how he got out but it was very lucky I saw him.

I jumped out of the car and he gladly followed me to the back door. Once he was back in the house and I again tried to leave for work, I saw a man walking down the sidewalk toward me. He was one house down and across the side street. The dog crossed the main road because he was now harassing the man. He was barking and jumping on the man. The man tried to get the dog to stop to no avail. After fifteen seconds the dog moved on.

I got in my car and drove to where the dog was and snapped a couple of pictures.

When I got to work the manager there said she knew someone at the city that she would talk to. Later she said the guy told her talking to the police would be a waste of time. He also said the woman in charge of animal control was a POS and would do nothing about the dog.

Now I have to worry about taking Frankie for a walk and I especially have to worry about him escaping.