I get blamed for spoiling the cats to much but in our house, there is another spoiler.
Photo Friday: Spoiler Alert
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Tag Archives: Cats
Photo Friday: Old Cat Tree
After we got our new cat tree, Rose insisted I throw out the old one. I thought it still had some life left in it but it was easier to throw it away than to argue about it. This is one of the last pictures of it before it went away.
Chris and Frankie.
Our New Cat Tree
When we moved, the plan was to get rid of the cat’s old, beat-up cat tree and replace it with a new one for the new place, but the high cost of moving delayed that plan until now. Saturday we found a very large, slightly used, Armarkat Cat Tree Condo for the ridiculously low price of twenty dollars. On Amazon it sells for $124, and even more elsewhere, so I think we got pretty lucky. It was in excellent condition except the second shelf from the top was broken, as if a very heavy cat jumped on it. A more likely scenario is someone attempted to move the cat tree and it tipped over.
We were in Rose’s Mustang and did not expect that we would be bringing home something so big. We didn’t feel like driving home to get the truck so we had to figure out how to make it work. We put the top down and tried standing it on the back seat but it was very tippy and I was worried it would fall out. It also didn’t work leaning to one side. I finally leaned the front seat back on put it there while I got in the back to hold it.
Once we got it home, we cleaned it good and I screwed a piece of wood under the broken piece to hold it together. We then scared Puck under the bed when we brought it inside.
Frankie and Chris weren’t scared. They jumped at the chance to investigate the new tree. They checked out every inch of it, including the top shelf which was very close to the ceiling. They also seemed to like the little built-in house. Frankie even squeezed through the little window, I feat that Chris can only dream about these days.
The ceiling in our Florida room slopes down to its low point near where I put the cat tree so the top shelf is almost useless, but as I said, they are able to get on it but since the first day, I have not seen it get used. The rest of it does get used though so I am very happy with our purchase.
Wow! This thing is awesome.
I call first dibs on the house.
Hey Frankie, lets rub our scent on this thing before Puck sees it.
Chris, do you get the feeling we are being watched?
Hello Dad! Don’t you have somewhere better you can be with that camera?
As king I claim this as my castle.
Hey Frankie. I can see you through this hole.
Do you think this is what they call an outhouse?
If this is an outhouse, I need to figure out how it works.
Hey Chris! I’ll bet you can’t fit up here like I can.
Oh yea? I’ll bet I can.
There, see?
I wouldn’t call that fitting.
Who cares? I like this shelf better.
Too bad Puck isn’t here to see this.
Did somebody say my name? Hey, why didn’t you tell me we had a new cat tree.
Not my job, Puck.
Where are you going? Don’t you want to check out the condo?
There’s No Hiding the Catnip
A few days ago I took the blender out of the cabinet and before i could close the door, Chris was in the cabinet. I knew getting him out would be difficult but I was certain I could lure him out with cat treats, so I took them out of the cabinet, that was right next to Chris, and made a big announcement that I had kitty treats. Puck and Frankie came running but Chris held his ground.
I passed out the treats to the boys, thinking Chris would not be able to resist, but when I looked back, he was gone. He didn’t leave the cabinet but made his way the five or six feet, over all our clean dishes to the other side. The cabinet above the sink has three large doors and no dividers between them. When I opened the door on the left, there he was chewing on the catnip bag. I moved the catnip there after he managed to find it in one of the drawers. (see “Catnip, I Have You Now“).
I took it away from him and thought about pulling him out of the cabinet but that would have resulted in some of our good dishes crashing to the floor. Instead I had to reward his bad behavior with the catnip.
The Building Inspectors
Cats love new things. Bring something new in the house and every cat will come out to give it a thorough inspection. That is especially true when you have to put that new thing together, as I did last night with a new shelving unit. All three of our cats were busy investigating every nook and cranny.
After it was mostly put together, they each had to get on it to test for structural deficiencies. There was even a bit of a disagreement when two of the inspectors found that their work areas overlapped.
Photo Friday: Peace and War
It is so nice to see Chris and Frankie getting along.
It rarely lasts long.
Bunnies, Bunnies Everywhere
Our new neighborhood is loaded with bunny rabbits. They tend to stay hidden during the day and come out to eat later in the afternoon and evening. Since we have moved here, we have seen them every day not far from our driveway. For some reason, they never seemed to show up on the other side of the house where our enclosed Florida room is. That is the room where the cats love to hang out because it is all windows on three sides.
That changed the other day when a small, adolescent bunny showed up just under one of the windows on the patio. Puck was the first to notice and he went crazy.
That was three days ago and we haven’t seen them since on that side of the house. I hope in the future the cats will see these bunnies more often.
Our Third Blogiversary
I can’t believe it has been three years since I started this blog. It seems time really does fly when you’re having fun. When I started blogging, I remember reading that many bloggers quit after a short time because, among other reasons, they set their expectations about readership and the ability to make money far too high. Fortunately, I set my money-making expectations very low. My goal is to make more than zero dollars on this blog during the first five years and if everything goes as planned, I may just do that.
To be perfectly honest, I have accumulated $24 in ad revenue and, at this rate, I should reach the $100 needed to get paid by 2024. Obviously, I am not doing this for the money, which may be why I haven’t given up on it. I see this more as a hobby that I enjoy.
I enjoy it for two reasons. The first is because I like to write. I wish I had known this about myself when I was younger, I might have chosen a different career path. The second reason is because I have met so many wonderful people who share my passion for writing and for animals. While I have not yet met any of them in person, I feel like we would be instant friends.
There is a third reason that I like to blog. I enjoy photography and this blog not only gives me a place to post some of my pictures, it motivates me to take more pictures too. With that in mind, here is a picture of Chris on our new cat perch.
Finally, I want to thank all of you for reading and following this blog. My biggest hope is that the value you get from it, whether it be entertainment or information, will be worth your time. I encourage you to let me know if there is anything that I can do different to make this a more enjoyable read.
Two Escapes Already
I knew it wouldn’t be long before Chris and Frankie figured out how to slip out the door in our new home. It happened on Thursday when both escaped on separate occasions.
I don’t worry about Chris because he is mostly interested in eating grass and hunting lizards. I do worry about Frankie because he is an explorer and I fear he will get lost in an unfamiliar neighborhood. We also live in a neighborhood where cats are not allowed outside. I am not sure you can legally allow dogs outside but not cats, even leashed cats, but I would prefer not to draw attention from busybody neighbors.
When Chris got out, I didn’t try to catch him right away because it was clear he was not interested in leaving the area. I probably should have, because before I knew it, he had a lizard in his mouth and was ready to go in. It was a real pain trying to get him to give up the lizard. Three or four times I got it out of his mouth, only to have get away from me and him catch it again.
I recorded the first attempt but had to put the phone down so I had a better chance of saving the lizard, which I eventually did with one slightly shorter tail.
When Frankie got out I was lucky. He was disoriented and while he was trying to figure out which way to run, I grabbed him and put him inside.
Another Move for us Nomads
Last Saturday we moved to a new home… again. I am really starting to feel like a Nomad with as many times as we have moved lately. We’ve moved six times in less than eight years and Chris has now lived in five homes in the five and a half years that he has been with us.
I loved the last place we lived. It had a great screened patio for the cats, a nice big back yard for the cat’s weekly outing, great neighbors and a nice view of the marina. It also came with a hefty price tag and now that we have a car payment we decided to find a place that would free up money for things like vacations and cat food.
Since Rose is turning 55 this year, she decided she wanted to check out 55+ communities. I had noticed in the past that the best deals seemed to be in those neighborhoods so I included those in my search. We ended up finding an incredible deal on a partially renovated mobile home in a well-kept 55+ community that is about six miles from our old home and is also closer to work for both of us. We paid cash for it and the lot rent is about 40% of what we were paying. That means I won’t have to feel guilty every time I fork over $39 for twelve days worth of wet food. I won’t even talk about the dry food and litter.
We packed for two weeks and the cats didn’t really notice at first but after the first week we started bringing stuff over to the new house. When our house became emptier with each passing day the cats seemed a little on edge. When I say cats, I mean mostly Puck, but Chris and Frankie were also affected. I think those two just became more needy for attention.
By moving day it was obvious something was up. The house was half empty and we had the beds leaning against the wall.
We moved most of our stuff ourselves but saved the big stuff for a moving company. That morning had brought a load of stuff to the new and when we returned I loaded the rest of the small stuff in the truck and waited for the movers.They showed up just before noon and when they arrived we closed the cats in our bedroom with a litter box, food and water.
It took them about thirty minutes and then we opened the bedroom door and left to follow the movers to the new place, When everything was unloaded, I went back alone to get the cats.
When I arrived there was not a cat in site. Before we left I saw Puck squeeze between the mattress and box-spring that was leaning against the wall. His favorite hiding place was inside the box-spring so he managed to find his way in there, despite the challenges. Apparently Chris and Frankie liked that idea so they joined him. I had to tear off some of the lining to get them out.
I first put Puck in the large carrier and then quickly grabbed Chris and put him in there too. I then put Frankie in the smaller carrier. Surprisingly, it was easier than I had expected.
I put Chris and Puck next to me in the front seat and Frankie in the middle of the back seat where I could see him. They didn’t seem too stressed and made very little noise. Even so, I wanted to get them there as soon as possible.
About a mile or so from my destination I was stopped by the longest funeral procession I had ever seen. It was also the slowest due to the coffin being pulled by horse and buggy.
I was concerned someone would start to get agitated but they were all good.
When we got to the new place, Chris and Frankie went exploring and Puck just hid in the carrier for a while and then left to find a better hiding place. I took a video with my phone when I set them loose but after two minutes the battery died and the video was lost. I quickly got my other camera and was able to capture a bit of the investigation.
Puck spent the next couple of days in and out of hiding and even Frankie hid under the bed with him at times. They also have not eaten much of their wet food and I threw away most of what I had given them these last few days. Chris never eats much of the wet food anyway and I don’t think this move has affected him much. Frankie seems mostly comfortable here but he is still surprisingly skittish when someone comes in the door. Puck spend much of his time under the bed but when he is out he seems fine.
There are other things I want to mention but I will save them for another post.
Bad Cat Chris 