I just realized I did not post anything in over a week. I have my own part-time business and was supplementing my income with a part-time job. Recently that job turned into full-time and combined with the hours I spend on my business, my life has left me with little free time to do the things I enjoy, like blogging.
I will try to be better at posting in the future. While you wait to see if I live up to that, enjoy a picture of Abbey, Chris, and Tigger from April of 2010 when Chris was about eleven months old.
As a side note, another photo taken at the same time was used on my most popular greeting card on Zazzle. If you are curious, you can see it here.
About two weeks ago we were driving out of our neighborhood when we noticed an old couple outside with a couple of pet stairs that they labeled “free.” I stopped and mentioned that I had an older cat that might benefit from them. She said that she had them for her cat. I assumed the cat died but I didn’t pursue it.
I have been unsure about Chris’s capabilities lately. When I am sitting at my computer he scratches at my legs to get me to pick him up. He used to just jump on my lap but that ship sailed over a year ago. He also scratches at my legs or cries at me when I am sitting on the sofa, even though I know he can jump onto the sofa when I am not there.
In the bedroom, he jumps onto the footboard and then continues up from there. It is usually one fluid motion but lately, he seems to struggle to get onto the bed. He looks like someone who has slid off a cliff and is trying to pull himself back up.
I thought the stairs would be a big help so I put one in the bedroom and one in the living room next to the sofa. He didn’t use it at first and I had to put him on it a couple of times but he soon got the hang of it. I originally had it in front of my nightstand but my wife feared I would trip over it at night so she pushed the nightstand over and put it where it is now in the photo.
Having it this way does make more sense. It also means that Chris has to stop at the top and turn before getting on the bed but he quickly got the hang of that.
The stairs by the sofa are another story. Chris never used them and would either just jump onto the sofa or ask me to pick him up. I decided instead to put them next to my office chair. My hope was that he would climb the stairs to get on my lap.
So far he has never attempted to climb those stairs. He always just scratches my legs until I pick him up. They aren’t totally useless though. When I have to get up I sort of guide him to the stairs as I stand up. He then walks down the stairs and follows me, hoping this will be the time I will open the container of kibble.
I guess this is our reality now. Chris is not getting any younger or any lighter and I don’t expect that to change, although it would be helpful if I could get him to lose a few pounds.
You may remember back in February of last year I did a review of a cat tree from Topeakmart. When it was new, the cats loved it, but soon everyone stopped paying attention to it. That is until a couple of weeks ago when Frankie claimed the little house as his own and started spending a lot of time “at home.”
I’m not sure how long his interest in his new home will last. Perhaps because Chris started spending time in his house on the bigger cat tree, Frankie thought he needed a home too. I don’t know. Maybe he got wind of the hot real estate market and is hoping to get squatter’s rights on the home.
Here is Chris from twelve years ago tomorrow. It was March 5, 2010 and we were still living in Myrtle Beach where we adopted Chris. He was around ten months old in this photo.
Chris used to like playing with stuffed animals, which is what he was doing here. I do not know why we had Teddy bear sheets. I guess that would be a question for my wife.
I took Frankie for a walk on Saturday. Sometimes he gets very vocal and won’t shut up until I take him out, then he is as quiet as a church mouse.
We started at our next-door neighbor’s house where Frankie had to do a thorough inspection of her bushes. I didn’t want to be standing right in front of her house, so I picked up Frankie and moved him to our side. Just then I heard her car door shut and then watched her drive away. “Okay, Frankie. Smell away.”
From there we walked across the street where we encountered a woman walking a small Yorkie. Surprisingly, the dog wasn’t barking. The woman thought Frankie was very cute and was amazed that he let me put a harness on him. While we were talking, Frankie walked up to the dog, the two of them smelled each other for a few seconds, and then Frankie quickly lost interest and continued walking.
We walked through the grass toward the pool. When we got close to the pool we encountered several people and dogs. To our left was a woman walking a small, white dog who was barking at Frankie. To our right were four people and two dogs in a parked golf cart. The dogs were not small but not huge either. The woman in the driver’s seat was so impressed by a cat walking with a leash and harness that she got out and walked toward Frankie with her phone because she wanted to video him. While she was doing that, Frankie started toward the barking dog.
When Frankie get to within five feet of the dog he stopped and changed directions. I think it was the woman who distracted him because he walked up to her and let her pet him. He then continued toward the golf cart where everyone was ooohing and aaahing. I’m not sure if Frankie liked the attention but he sure was encouraging it. He walked up to the golf cart, stopped and looked at the dogs for a second or two, and then continued on.
After that, he spent a little time rolling on the ground.
He followed that up with some grass-eating.
Finally, it was time to rest and to see how long Dad could put up with standing around waiting.
It occurred to me that if I wasn’t already happily married, and if I didn’t live in an old people’s community, walking a cat would be a great way to meet girls.
Rose bought a sectional sofa from Babcock near the end of 2017. I am sure it was expensive but I never wanted to know how much she paid, given my aversion to spending money on stuff we don’t need. Nevertheless, it is a comfortable sofa and Frankie loves lying at my feet when I have the footrest open. There is a little nook in the footrest that fits Frankie just right. He usually lies in the corner on my left but if I get up for some reason, when I come back I find him stretched out and I then have to sit at an angle.
About a year and a half ago, the pull cord that opens the footrest broke. I tried to contact someone at Badcock about it but I could not get through to a real person. I don’t remember why. It is probable that the wait time was an hour or more and I didn’t want to do it. By the way, if any company says that your call is important to them and then puts you on hold for more than five minutes, they are lying.
I did find an email address for them and sent an email explaining my problem but I never got a response. In the end, I drove up to the store, paid them over $25 for the part, and then had to wait over a month. If I remember right it took way longer than that. I think it came in after we went to West Virginia the first time.
I picked it up and put the piece on after we came home in January of last year. It was the most difficult thing I have done in recent memory. I almost never swear but I was like a drunken sailor that day.
Now, just over one year later it has broken again. Really, less than a year since we did not use the sofa for two months.
I went back to Badcock but the thought of paying twice to fix something that should not have broken once disturbs me. I tried to argue my point to no avail. I did find out that the sofa is an actual Badcock brand and it has a three-year warranty which means I was charged for the first part before the three years was up. I guess I will have to try calling them again.
In the meantime, I have to leave the footrest up and Frankie loves it.
I saw Chris and Floki sleeping together in the same bed yesterday and had to get a photo.
I think it is a great picture except the image quality is disappointing. As soon as I downloaded it to my computer and looked at it I decided I should go get my good camera and try again, but when I got up I noticed that Floki had already abandoned his position. I guess I made him nervous taking pictures. Oh well.
Bad Cat Chris 