Since my wife is away and since I just clipped Chris’s claws, I decided to let the cats sleep with me Monday night. Of course, that was a mistake. I should have known.
Chris started bothering me sometime before 3 AM. I suppose I should have been grateful that he lasted that long. If I was smart, I would have picked him up and put him out of the bedroom but I was just too tired to get up. He continued bothering me, on and off, (mostly on) until sometime after 5 a.m. when I decided that I had enough and I got out of bed.
I fed them breakfast, made coffee, and did a couple of other things and then went back in the bedroom and saw this.
I guess it was mission accomplished so no longer need to stay awake.
Chris was sitting on my lap yesterday evening when he reached up to stick his claws into my skin like he often does but this time his claws got stuck in my neck and I had to reach over and pull them out. I was highly annoyed, as well as in pain, and I said, “Okay, Chris, enough is enough.” I then picked him up and carried him to the bedroom.
The “enough” I was referring to was me allowing his nails to get so long and sharp. The reason I carried him into the bedroom was because my wife keeps the nail clippers in her nightstand drawer. She clips the cat’s nails about eighty percent of the time but she is away on a business trip so I did it.
Chris was amazingly good for me this time. He did not try to pull his paw away, even when I had trouble seeing some of his nails. After I finished, he made a point of washing his paws.
My wife called me at work yesterday to tell me that Frankie escaped. She said she had a hair appointment at 4:00 and if he wasn’t back by then she would have to leave him outside. I looked at my watch. It was just after 1:30. If I hurried I might be able to get all of my important work done and get home before she left.
Fortunately, she called me back at 3:00 to tell me that he was back. She said she opened the window on the door a few inches and the put a chair in front of it. Of course, Chris and Floki jumped at the chance to get a good smell out the window.
Rose was hoping to use them as Frankie detectors and it worked. When Frankie showed up Chris started growling and hissing which prompted Rose to get up and let him in
Not long after I got home, I noticed how comfortable Frankie was and wondered why he is always trying to get out.
He should know by now that there’s no place like home.
During the two months that we were in West Virginia, I did not take Frankie for a walk one time, although he did escape once. Frankie was generally content with hanging out on the catio and didn’t bother me to go outside so I didn’t bother offering. I thought when we got back to Florida he might forget about going for a walk, but not so.
We spent a good part of Sunday unpacking. We started shortly after waking up that day and by about 10:30 that morning Frankie was following me around the house desperately meowing at me. I don’t exactly speak cat but I think I can understand Frankie pretty well. He acts like that when he wants to go outside and thinks there is a real chance it is going to happen. It is like when you say to your dog in an excited voice, “Do you want to go outside?” Of course, the dog will get excited and go around in circles. That is almost the same reaction I get from Frankie but sometimes I get it without saying anything. That’s when I know it’s time to drop what I’m doing and take him out.
He stayed relitively close for a while. He was busy smelling all the plants in the area.
After a while, he started gradually moving away from the house. When we got about eight houses away I decided that was far enough and picked him up and carried him about halfway back before he struggled his way out of my hands. I didn’t care as long as he was walking in the right direction. He spent a lot of time smelling a plant in front of someone’s house that I worried the owner would look out the window and see me standing there. They would probably assume I had a dog and was letting him poop in their yard so I dropped Frankie’s leash and backed away a little.
When Frankie finally did resume moving he walked behind the houses. When we approached our house I picked him up and put him inside. As per tradition, when Frankie comes in, Chris goes out.
I hung around with Chris for a while, watching him eat grass and relax on the cool concrete. After about ten minutes he was done and asked me to open the door for him.
It was a nice break but then I went back to unpacking for the next four hours.
I looked out the front door yesterday and saw one of the beautiful white stray cats in our front yard.
A day earlier I saw her and another white cat hanging out together at the house behind ours.
Frankie was scratching and crying at the door like he knew someone was out there. I was tempted to open the door so he could look out through the storm door but decided against it. It wouldn’t have mattered because the cat soon walked out of view.
I went back to whatever I was doing but Frankie insisted I let him out on the catio, which is in the back of the house. When I opened the door, he and Floki went out and there was soon a commotion. I looked and saw the white cat walking through our back yard.
By the time I took the above photo the cat had walked through the picket fence. With no more cat, things should settle down. But wait! Suddeny there was more commotion on the side of the side of the catio.
The neighbor’s cat was outside on a table in their backyard and Frankie and Floki both noticed. Fortunately, the cat didn’t come over for a visit like last time and our cats quickly got bored and dispursed.
Imagine if humans acted like that whenever another human walked by. I bet New York City would be even more interesting.
A couple of friends of ours from Florida, Nancy and Joe, visited us over the weekend. They recently bought a Winnabego and had taken it on the road. On their return to Florida, we were not too much out of the way so they stopped here for a couple af days.
On Saturday, while we were sitting at the dining room table, Nancy was cold so Rose offered her the blanket that she keeps on the couch. The same blanket that Chris loves to sleep on because it is very soft.
While she was sitting there with the blanket over her lags, Chris tried to reclaim the blanket by lying on her feet.
He actually took a nap there on her feet. I guess she will think next time about who’s blanket she decides to steal.
I was at the supermaket yesterday morning when Rose called me. “Frankie got out!” she said. “And I’m locked out of the house with no shoes on.”
“Okay,” I said. “I’m coming home right now.”
I quickly checked out with what I was able to get and went home. When I arived I saw nobody at first but then saw Rose and the pest control guy crossing the street. The guy was here to do an annual termite inspection and Frankie got out when Rose answered the door.
The man was carrying a fishing net and Rose pointed and said “Frankie is under that truck. As soon as we approached, Frankie ran out.
He ended up under a van a couple of houses down so I asked the guy to push at Frankie with his net. I hoped he would come out on my end but he shot out the front and ended up back under the pest control guy’s truck.
From there he went into the neighbors back yard and was about to jump the fence into our yard but changed his mind and skirted past me. After a little more chasing he ended up in front of our house too pooped to care anymore. I held my hand out and he gave it a good sniff while I move in close enough to grab him.
My biggest worry is that he is unfamiliar with the area. I have been lazy and have not taken him for a walk since he seems very content to just hang out on the catio. With one week more here I don’t think I will worry about walkling him here but once we get back to Florida I will have to do that.
Every morning Frankie quickly eats half his food and then tries to convince me to let him out on the catio. The other morning Floki saw him there not paying attention and decided to pounce.
Chris loves getting under the bed covers, which is where he was the other evening when Floki decided to join him.
After I took this photo Floki circled around behind Chris and got under the cover again there. Perhaps he didn’t like to have his photo taken while he was undercover.
Bad Cat Chris 