Here is a picture of Chris when he was around ten months old, taken on March 5, 2010. He was playing with this stuffed animal at the time.
I know the quality is not perfect but I like the look on his face. I also have videos from the same day of him playing with a Q-tip. Unfortunately, the videos are too out of focus to share, which is too bad because he was so funny back then.
Today is National Adopt a Shelter Pet Day.
During this difficult time people have stepped up and have been fostering or adopting pets at a much higher level than I anticipated, but there are still many pets stuck at shelters.
Volunteer duties have been suspended at the SPCA where I volunteer, but they are still open with paid staff and the shelter is taking reservations for people who want to adopt.
I hope to see an empty shelter when I am able to return.
That probably won’t happen but hopefully the pets at the shelter will be kept to a minimum.
That could happen. I am sometimes almost embarrassed to be human because of all the stupid, mean things that people do but during a time of crisis people tend to put the humane in humanity.
Chris loves Floki like a son and Floki seeks out Chris’s attention which no other cat has ever done, although Puck did tolerate Chris pretty well.
A few weeks ago, my wife ordered a new office chair that had a retractable footrest because her foot started hurting around the time this lock-down started and she wanted to be able to raise it while she was working. Unfortunately, she did not find the chair to be comfortable and gave it to me with the instruction to get rid of my old chair, which I happen to like. Garbage pickup was several days away so I had two chairs in my “office” while I was waiting for trash day. I didn’t find the chair to be as comfortable as my own but I needed to get rid of one of them because I didn’t have much room for both and I couldn’t see getting rid of the new one after she spent so much money on it.
During that time Chris would lay on my lap while I was working and annoy the crap out of me. He constantly claws at my chest like he wants to climb up or pull me down. It is something he started doing several months ago and I can’t get him to stop. If I put him down he just starts biting my legs.
One day I put a pillow on the new chair and put Chris on it and he stayed there. He was right next to me and I was able to pet him while I worked so it was all good. Now when he is annoying, like he is now while I am writing this, I can move him to the chair.
There are times when that doesn’t work. Now, for example, Frankie is on the chair so I can’t put Chris there.
Other times putting him on the chair doesn’t work and he comes right back to bother me some more. When that happens I do the only thing that works and I get up to put a little kibble in their bowls, which I just did so I could finish this sentence.
So it looks like I will have to deal with having two chairs in my way until something changes.
On a sadder note, I just learned that Yoda passed away yesterday. You may remember my recent post about losing Jerry. Yoda and Jerry arrived at the shelter where we adopted Chris in 2006 and never left. They were best friends in 2009 when I volunteered there and met Chris, and they were best friends until the end. I suspect losing Jerry was too much for Yoda so he left to join him at the Rainbow Bridge.
Our latest incarnation of Fort Box lasted longer than any other, perhaps six weeks or so, but my wife is tired of tripping over it and wants it gone today.
I have another box ready to go so I will give it a few days and then start over.
Frankie is not shy. Here he picked out a nice spot in the sun to expose himself and didn’t care who was looking.
Chris and Frankie are enjoying a nice nap together without a care in the world.
Wouldn’t it be nice to be a cat right about now?
Frankie goes stir-crazy if he is stuck in the house too long. It was probably over a week since I took him for a walk and maybe almost that long since he last escaped so he was driving me crazy with his crying and scratching at the door. I couldn’t take it anymore so, even though I was busy, I got his harness and we went outside.
I hope everyone reading this is doing well and I hope if you are stuck at home you are not going stir-crazy like Frankie.
I think the photo speaks for itself.
Frankie escaped yesterday again which has become highly annoying, especially since I just took him for a walk the day before. It happened as I was leaving to go to the store so I couldn’t leave until I got him back in the house.
The first thing he did when I tried to catch him was run across the street and under a vehicle that was parked there. I tried, unsuccessfully, to coax him out, or at least get him close enough to pull him out, but he is too smart for that.
After a while he became distracted with a lizard, which he caught and headed for home with it. I thought he wanted to bring it in the house but he went under my car with it instead.
Cats like to play with their prey so he let it go and recaptured it a couple of times before the lizard came out from under the car enough for me to catch it. I then moved it back a foot or two and let it go. I was hoping Frankie would come out to get it but both stayed motionless. That is when I gave the lizard a little push to get him moving which also got Frankie moving. He ran out from under the car into my waiting arms.
Now that, my friends, is how you catch a cat.
