Tag Archives: Cats

Our Brush with Hurricane Elsa

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Before I even knew there was a storm brewing, one of my coworkers told me, very concerned, that we were going to get hit by a hurricane. I had not seen the news and had no idea what he was talking about but since he just recently moved to Florida I told him not to worry, we don’t get hit by hurricanes here. I told him of a local Indian legend that says there is something under the ground here in Pinellas County that repels hurricanes.

Indeed, I believe there is no record of Pinellas County Florida ever getting a direct hit by a hurricane, although a few have come close. Several years ago Hurricane Charley was predicted to slam right into Tampa Bay but suddenly, and unexpectedly, veered east and hit the Ft. Meyer’s area. Maybe the legend is true.

Yesterday that same employee asked our boss about the company’s inclement weather policy. I couldn’t help but laugh. Since we are a small business, I pictured that written down in a big manual somewhere.

My wife was concerned too but not about our safety. Her concern was that we might lose power and thus the ability to cool ourselves. She wanted me to make sure I had the batteries charged on our alternative power supplies.

The worst of the storm was supposed to pass by, just offshore, between 11 p.m. and 2 a.m. We watched the weather that evening but there was barely a breeze.

We went to bed around 10 p.m. but left the bedroom door open incase the storm got bad and the cats wanted to be with us. Chris showed up around 2 a.m. and proceeded to bother the hell out me by scratching my neck and face. After a while I put him on the floor and lured them all out of the bedroom buy getting out the Stella and Chewy’s. I then went back to bed but realized I forgot to look out the window so I went back out to the kitchen and looked out the window. None of the trees were moving from the wind except a lone palm tree. Not sure what happened to the hurricane. Perhaps it was repelled.

This morning everything looks fine. There is no flooding and no debris that I can see from my house. Now I have to go to work. No excuses today.

Floki Loves Chris

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Since adopting Chris, no cat has gone to him for attention until we adopted Floki. I have always seen Chris seeking attention from others but not the other way around. Puck may have occasionally gone to Chris but not enough to be memorable.

It makes me feel good now to see Floki seeking attention from Chris. I probably shouldn’t be thinking of this in human terms but I imagine sending a child to school but that child has a hard time making friends. Then a new student shows up with a funny Viking name that wants to be your child’s friend. I think any parent would be happy about that, assuming the new child is not a psycho. Floki may be a little weird sometimes but he certainly is not a psycho.

Undercover Cat

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We usually sit on the bed for a little while before bedtime just relaxing and reading or we catch up on Facebook or play a game or whatever. The cats usually join us at that time. Lately Chris has often been trying to get under the sheets on our bed. The other day he had gotten under the sheet and blanket and fell asleep. I was worried he would suffocate so I tried to hold up one end a little so he would have some air.

Yesterday he started digging at the edge of the blanket so I pick it up for him and he crawled inside. I then pushed the blanket back so he was just under the sheet. This is what happened next.

Floki just can’t resist attacking anything that moves under the cover.

My Return to the Shelter

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I have a couple of part-time businesses where I make most of my income but work has slowed recently and I ended up with too much free time so I decided to get a part-time job. The person working there wanted to semi retire so it was decided that we would each work 20 hours a week or less, depending on how busy it was. I thought that was perfect for me except there was a problem. The other employee quit the day I started.

That left me working almost full time on top of the work I already had. I had no time to volunteer anymore. I decided to quit my position at the Red Cross and I put the SPCA on hold. After about two months a new person was finally hired and I was able to get Friday off.

There used to be a lot of volunteers at the SPCA but since the pandemic it seems many of them have dropped out. When I signed up for a Friday afternoon shift on Friday morning there were no other volunteers scheduled. That has been common for the last year or so (there used to be two or three per shift) which makes it even more important that I go.

This week the shelter was moderately full. Four of the eight pods had cats in them and about another five or six cats in solo cages. While I was there a few more cats and kittens were added and two cats were adopted.

Many of the cats there were very friendly and wanted attention.

One female cat was friendly but was also being harassed by a young male cat so she would alternate between coming out for pets and hiding. He wasn’t fighting with her but he was doing a lot of growling and hissing.

As much as I like the friendly cats, I feel it is equally important to pay attention to the shy ones, perhaps more important. I think the more attention a shy cat gets the more likely he or she will be less afraid of future visitors and thus more likely to be adopted.

For example, this cat is a two-year-old male named Tony. He was very nervous at my presence at first.

But I slowly gained his trust and before I new it he was rolling around and letting me pet his belly.

Another great thing about volunteering is that sometimes you get to watch kittens play, which is more entertaining than most televisions shows.

On anther note, I am having trouble with Facebook and I can use your help. For some strange reason, Facebook has decided that my blog is a threat to the fabric of society and sharing it could be the end of the world as we know it. Basically they think it is spam. I don’t know why they think that, it’s just a cat blog. I tried to appeal the decision but I don’t think real people work at Facebook anymore, at least not in a customer service capacity.

Can you please copy and past the URL of one of my blog posts and try to share it (the Facebook button below won’t work for this purpose). You will get a message that says “This URL goes against our Community Standards on spam.” Just hit continue three times and then “Disagree with decision.” If you actually agree that it is spammy please let me know what you are seeing so I can try to correct it. Thanks.

By the way, the reason I think real people don’t work at Facebook anymore is because about three weeks ago Facebook sent me a notification that there was suspicious activity on my account and I should change my password. I did that and when I logged in I discovered I was kicked out of Facebook marketplace. I know I did nothing wrong so I explained that I might have been hacked and I got a notification from Facebook that they would review it and get back to me within 24 hours. That was three weeks ago and I still get that 24 hour message every time I click on the marketplace icon.

Annoying the Annoyer

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Chris has always been good at annoying people and cats alike but this past year his annoyance level seems well above what it has been in the past. Knowing that, I couldn’t help but laugh at seeing Chris on the receiving end for a change. I think I spent a good two or three minutes laughing before I thought to record what was happening. I managed to capture the last thirty seconds of Floki annoying Chris. Enjoy.

Photo Friday: An Excuse to Not Make the Bed

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I usually don’t jump out of bed and then make it. There is some time for relaxing and enjoying a cup of coffee. During that time at least one cat will often decide to nap on the bed. Three cats sleeping on the bed when I need to make it is rare and a good reason to put off the task.

Of course, I can never put it off until the next day so I guess it is not very helpful.