Tag Archives: Cats

Fun in the Sun

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I believe in an ideal world, every indoor cat would have a cat-door leading to an outside area tightly enclosed by a cat-proof fence so the cat could come and go as they please. Of course, this is not an ideal world so we have to make due with what we have. In our case, I try to let the cats outside for a supervised “recess” once or twice a week.

I think being able to run around outside, eat grass and soak up the sun is good for them. I also think there are many dangers outside which is why I won’t let them out unless I have the time to make sure they stay close to the house. It can be difficult to watch them when both cats are out at once but Rose was out there yesterday for a second set of eyes.

They really enjoyed their time in the sun and both were in no hurry to go back inside when we tried to collect them.

Photo Friday: Kitchen Help

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I usually make lunch for Rose and myself every morning. This lunch usually includes a salad which Puck waits for so he can steal a piece of lettuce. I don’t know why. Perhaps he thinks he is a rabbit.

Chris can’t have Puck on the counter without himself being up there to make sure he is included on anything good that might be given out.

Our cat Puck on kitchen counter.

Our cats Chris and Puck on kitchen counter.

The Toy Box

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Our house gets dirty pretty fast for a home with two people who are gone nearly 12 hours a day, five days a week. Of course the majority of the dirt that accumulates throughout the house is cat hair and cat litter. This means that we do a lot of sweeping and vacuuming. We do what we call a quick vac a couple of times a week and then, once a week, we do a major clean that involves picking everything up off the floor.

The things that populate our floor and must be removed include rugs, cat scratchers and cat toys. It is that cat toys that always amaze me. Every week I pick up more toys than the average six-year-old has in their closet.

Cat toys

These are just a few of the toys I collected one day.

We have a toy box where we keep the cats toys. Actually, it is more of a toy basket.

cat tox box (basket)

Is this too much?

Chris and Puck know where their toys are kept and have no problem taking the toys out and playing with them. Chris is surprisingly playful for being almost five years old. I see both him and Puck (who is about one and a half) chasing toy mice around the house quite often. I just can’t seem to get them to put their toys away when they finish playing. I don’t suppose there are any parents out there that know what that is like…

Photo Friday: Basket Case

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I mentioned before that Puck loves getting on top of the china cabinet and lying inside a basket that is up there (see here). Chris sometimes gets up there when he sees Puck in the basket and tries to take over. Puck never gives in until the other day. I wonder what changed?

Bad Cat Chris and Puck on the China cabinet.

It’s my turn and if you refuse I will tell Mom and Dad who knocked over the Christmas tree.

Bad Cat Chris on the China cabinet.

Memories of Abbey and Tigger

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I want to start by wishing everyone a happy and prosperous new year. I hope you all have a great 2014.

About five years ago Rose and I were at a benefit for a local shelter called The Suncoast Animal League (Where I later volunteered briefly). They had cat beds for sale and since it was for a good cause we bought one that looked a little like Abbey. She took to it right away and it became her bed, even though other cats would sometimes lie in it.

Abbey and Tigger in Abbey's cat bed.

Abbey and Tigger in Abbey’s cat bed.

Abbey, Chris and Tigger in Abbey's cat bed.

Abbey’s bed could sometimes get over crowed.

Tigger had his own bed too but he was not as attached to it as Abbey was.

Chris and Tigger in thier cat beds

After we lost Abbey, her bed remained behind.

Today we put away all our Christmas decorations. I don’t know how but it seemed like we had less room than we did when I took the decorations out so I needed to make room. That is when I noticed Abbey and Tigger’s beds on the shelf. Since we moved, Chris and Puck don’t use them anymore so they ended up in the closet. Rose said I should throw them out, so I put them in a garbage bag and, as I closed the bag, the little cat face seemed to look back at me. I felt bad putting it in the trash, but I knew there was no room to store it for sentimental reasons.

“They say you die twice, one time when you stop breathing and a second time, a bit later on, when somebody says your name for the last time.” This quote is attributed to Bransky and It makes me feel like my memory of Abbey and Tigger keeps them alive and nothing else is needed.

 

 

Zzzzzzzz… Crash!

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We were awaken at 4:20 this morning by a loud noise in the living room. It wasn’t the kind of noise that wakes you up and you lie there and think, “Hmm, I wonder what that was.” This was a sit straight up in bed and yell, “Holy S%#!, What the H*#! was that?!” kind of noise.

Rose thought Puck jumped up on the china cabinet and knocked her porcelain stocking holder down… again. Unfortunately, that was not what happened. We got up to discover our Christmas tree lying on its side and Chris and Puck standing next to it like they were as surprised as we were. I don’t know who was responsible but those two tend to get frisky during the night and take turns chasing each other around the house. I’m sure one chased the other into the tree.

Christmas tree after cats knocked it over.20131230_Fallen tree_187This was not how we wanted to take down the tree. We planned on getting a plastic box or bag designed for Christmas trees since I threw away the box it came in (the glue attracts cockroaches), but yesterday was Rose’s birthday and she didn’t feel like dealing with Wal-Mart, the only store near us that would carry such an item. I didn’t blame her, Wal-Mart is always a huge hassle.

The first thing we had to do was get as much broken glass up as we could before someone cut their foot. I missed a piece that Chris found and picked it up and started chewing on it. I tried to get him to drop it but he wouldn’t so I had to pick him up and shake him until he let go. Later, when we picked up all the candy canes, we discovered many had been chewed on. I think Chris was chewing on candy canes while we were putting ornaments away. Perhaps he thought the broken glass was part of a candy cane.

If there are any readers out there that have never had children and are considering it, I would suggest you get a couple of cats first for practice.

 

Scaredy Cat

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Rose’s son flew in yesterday from up north. He is at that carefree age when loud and obnoxious is the norm. On the way home from the airport we picked up one of his friends and had two carefree young men in our house. As every parent knows, when you put two kids together the loudness does not double , it rises exponentially.

Chris was perfectly fine with it. If he was human, he would be leading the group. Actually, if Chris was human, he would have taken them on a pub crawl or something and our house would have been quiet.

Puck is very different from Chris. He does not see change as a new adventure like Chris does. Puck has a special hiding place under our bed just for that occasion when someone new comes into the house. He has managed to pull down the underside of our box spring and climb up inside of it. That is what he did when we came home with the boys.

That evening the two of them borrowed our truck and left for a few hours. That gave Puck a respite and he was able to come out of his hiding place. We then went to bed and closed the cats out of our bedroom.

When the boys came home Puck was trapped in the spare bedroom and freaked out when they came in the room. We heard a loud noise and found out the next morning it was Puck knocking things over as he made his escape. I don’t know where he went to but after we got up this morning I did a thorough search of our house and eventually found Puck under our bed. I don’t know how he got there without us seeing him but he didn’t come back out until the coast was clear.

Our cat Puck hiding under the bed.

Paw Prints

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When one has cats there are certain sacrifices that must be made. For example, we have a nice coffee table that doubles as a display case but we have to keep it covered or this happens:

Cat paw prints on our coffee table.

As I write this it occurs to me that I took this photo during the summer, which is our rainy season here in Florida. The cats would go out on our screened patio, get their feet wet and then come inside and climb over our furniture. Perhaps I will take the cover off and see what happens.

Update: I took the cover off and now have paw prints everywhere. It appears I was wrong. Imagine that.