Tag Archives: Cats

Another Encounter with Ginger Cat and Another Hurricane

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Frankie used to rarely travel to the street behind our house, but lately, we find ourselves there quite often. I think it is because of the male ginger cat that lives near the opposite end of the street. I think Frankie knows he’s there and wants to check up on him, even though they obviously don’t like each other. Perhaps Frankie thinks this entire area belongs to him.

In other news, another hurricane is heading our way. We escaped harm in the last hurricane, but the beaches here were devastated, even though the storm was well out in the Gulf when it passed us. This hurricane, Milton, was forecast yesterday to hit St. Petersburg as a category-three hurricane. St. Petersburg is just a few miles south of us.

I freaked my wife out yesterday by suggesting we leave this time. While living in Pinellas County, we have never been directly hit by a hurricane. There were several that were supposed to hit us, but all veered off and gave us a glancing blow. That is what I hope will happen again, but if it doesn’t, we could be in a lot of trouble if we stay.

Rose and I tried to book on our phones the only reasonable hotel left in the county with rooms available. She and I both got rejected when we tried to pay for it. Their computer said the CVC number was wrong on both our cards. She then called the hotel directly. They had three rooms, and as she was booking one, she got cut off. When she called back, they had two rooms left. Another person tried to book it for her, but by the time he got through everything and took her credit card, the room was gone. He tried again with the last room but was so slow. He had to confirm every little detail, and the room was gone before he finished. Needless to say, Rose was not happy with him and let him know.

Today, Rose talked to someone at Hilton and secured a room at a hotel in New Port Richey, in the county north of us. She got it solely because she is a diamond member, and they keep rooms in reserve for them. She then learned that our next-door neighbor planned to go to Georgia with her dad. She will watch our cats when we go on vacation starting Friday. Rose feared she wouldn’t make it back in time to watch our cats, so she booked them a room at a hotel across the street. It cost us $500, but Rose didn’t want anything to stop us from leaving on vacation. We are Flying to Boston on Friday morning and then traveling up the coast to Maine. Hopefully, our house will be okay because that could ruin our vacation.

I checked the track today, and the center is now predicted to hit about 50 miles south of us. That’s a little better for us, but still not great. Rose also suggested that our neighbor and her 96-year-old father stay in the room with us to save us the $500. That’s a tough choice.

Found Photos

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I want to start by saying thank you to everyone concerned about our welfare during Hurricane Helene. We were lucky and sustained no damage to our home. I reported in my last post that the bridges to the beaches were closed. I thought they needed to inspect the bridges before reopening but I later learned that the Pinellas County beaches were devastated during the hurricane, mostly due to the storm surge. Three days later, they are still closed. Only residents can access the islands. The storm surge didn’t affect us since we are about four miles from the beach.

On to today’s topic. I was looking through old photos and found an envelope with no date but judging by the pictures I can tell they were from late 2010. Some were taken in South Carolina before we moved back to Florida in November. A couple were taken in Florida.

I did not realize I had a film camera at that time. That’s probably why I lost track of them. I should point out the quality is not great. The photos look good on paper, but I found them to be difficult to scan. I had to turn the contrast down on the scanner which produced less than optimal results.

Tigger and Abbey are in the first two photos. We had affectionate cats back then.

Here is Chris looking to squeeze himself between Tigger and Alex.

After returning to Florida, I captured this photo outside our back door.

What do you think of our Angels?

Preparing for Hurricane Helene

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I managed to get home from work just before it started raining this afternoon. We are getting rain from the outer edge of Hurricane Helene. It will continue to move north, closer to us, throughout tonight and tomorrow. We should feel the strongest impact sometime tomorrow afternoon.

We are in a mandatory evacuation zone, which doesn’t amount to much because I know of nobody who is leaving, including us. Where would we go? All the hotels are booked, and many shelters don’t take pets. I’m sure bringing our pets to a pet-friendly shelter would be a nightmare. We probably wouldn’t be able to let them out of their carriers except for potty breaks.

The last time I checked, the storm would pass to the west of us as a category four hurricane. We live between Clearwater and St. Petersburg. The graphic I saw showed our area at the edge of hurricane-force winds. I assume that means we will feel category one force winds, which are 74-95 MPH. I don’t think our kitties will enjoy that too much. The storm might turn east, which would be bad for us, but it could also turn west, which would be a big help.

Of course, Frankie bugged the heck out of me to take him out for a walk. I picked him up and opened the door so he could see the rain. I thought that would be the end of it, but he kept bugging me, so I got his harness and took him outside.

Once outside, he stayed under the carport, where it was dry. I tied up our outdoor furniture, which Frankie found quite interesting.

Hopefully, we won’t lose power or a roof or anything like that. Wish us luck.

Hanging With Mama

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Often, when Rose and I sat down to watch television, Chris would get on the sofa and lie next to me. Usually, he would be half on and half off my lap. After a while, he would decide I had enough attention, and it was Mama’s turn. he would walk over to her and lie down at her side. I found this photo from the first of August that shows this. On this day, Frankie happened to be there first, but that was more of an exception than the rule.

Rose returned from her cruise on Thursday. That evening she was saddened to know Chris would not be joining her on the sofa.