What could be better to scratch on than a real tree like nature intended?
Photo Friday: The Best Scratching Post
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Tag Archives: tree
The Best Scratching Post
Sometimes when I take Frankie for a walk he finds a tree to use as a scratching post.
I think it’s great when he does that because a real tree is what nature intended cats to scratch on. I wish I could put a real tree inside our house. Then, maybe, the cats would actually scratch where they are supposed to.
Ready for Christmas
We put our tree up last week and all of the cats have taken turns hanging out under the tree.
Now, if I could only get all of them under the tree at the same time I might be able to get a good photo for my Christmas post. Of course, I don’t see that happening.
Frankie’s Misadventure
Frankie escaped again early yesterday morning and did what he always does to keep from getting caught. He headed toward a car,
He knows that if he is near a car, he can duck under it if I come too close.
If there are other cars nearby he can go from car to car with little risk of getting caught.
I decided to just wait him out at home so I let Chris out to wait with me.
I still have to watch Chris but I don’t worry about him because he mostly likes to hang out near the house and eat grass or just chill.
That wasn’t always the case. Chris, after all, invented the hide-under-the-car-technique. Some of you may remember his younger days.
After a short time Frankie returned.
Unfortunately, as soon as I took this photo and put my phone away to catch him, he bolted and hid under a car again.
I put Chris in the house and went inside to wait for him. After a little while. while I was cleaning the litter boxes, I looked out the window and saw him out from under the car and very interested in a nearby tree. Then he jumped into the tree.
I hurried outside hoping I could catch him before he went too hign in the tree.
I couldn’t reach him good enough and forced him higher into the tree.
I went to my shed and found a grabber tool which was the longest thing I could find quickly and returned to the tree. I was barely able to reach Frankie with it and managed to turn him around and forced him out of the tree but he ran several houses away and under another car so I gave up, went home and waited.
He finally came home after being outside for over an hour and then settled into a nice morning nap with Chris and Floki.
Preparing for the Holidays . . . with Cats
It used to be that the holiday season started with Thanksgiving but everyone knows that retailers have pushed it back to about mid-July. In my house, it starts when the Hallmark Channel starts showing Christmas movies. You know the ones. Girl has good job in New York, travels to small town, meets man, falls in love, quits job, stays in small town. Anyway, that is when my wife starts to get excited about the season.
This year there is even more of an urgency to prepare for the holidays. Rose’s son and his girlfriend, who is not his girlfriend (it’s complicated), are flying in tomorrow. They will stay for his birthday on the 18th and for Thanksgiving before leaving the following Friday. So, obviously, it is important to have things ready.
The first thing to prepare for was the annual cookie bake extravaganza which includes pumpkin rolls and Chex mix. Before that could be started, Rose had to set the oven to “clean.” That caused our house to be a bit stinky so I opened some windows to air it out a little. Of course, that did not go unnoticed by our cats.
Next was our Christmas tree, which I kept stored in a large zippered bag. before I could even finish unpacking it, Chris managed to crawl inside. Naturally, that got the attention of Floki and Frankie.
Then we had to get out the decorations which meant plenty of opportunities to investigate or just lay in a box.
Finally, because of or in spite of all the help, we finished our Christmas tree.
Next, I have to put lights outside. I must admit I am a bit of a Scrooge when it comes to decorating but I especially don’t like stringing lights outside the house. It is something that mostly only gets seen by the neighbors so it seems like it is done solely to impress the neighbors and I don’t care about impressing the neighbors. I do want to make my wife happy so I string lights.
What are your thoughts on decorating for the holidays? Am I wrong about the outside lights?
Photo Friday: This Tree Is Too Big
Frankie came across this tree on a recent walk and thought about climbing it but after looking up he quickly abandoned that idea.
Photo Friday: Planning His Escape
This photo shows Frankie sizing up the tree he plans to use to get over the tall fence. I had to drop my phone and grab him as he reached the top of the fence, and then pull him back to my side.
Photo Friday: The Spirit of Christmas
It looks like the spirit of Christmas affects cats too and has moved Frankie to be nice to Chris.
Getting Ready for Christmas
Today we had the pleasure of putting up our Christmas tree… with help from the cats, of course.
Chris managed to get into the bag before I got tree tree out.
Frankie was there helping me put the pieces together while Puck supervised. Unfortunately, Puck’s pictures did not come out well.
The tree looked great after Rose decorated it,
It definitely met with Chris’s approval.
I put up lights around the windows after the tree was done and Frankie was there to help every step of the way. I asked Rose to take a picture of us but when she did she called Frankie to look her way but he jumped down and went to her instead.
Who else gets extra help for the holidays?
The Cat Tree
Out of our three cats, Chris is the only one I feel comfortable letting outside. Puck is okay when let out. He doesn’t go far but he is near impossible to catch when it is time to go in. Frankie can never be let outside. It is unfortunate but after leading us on a long chase through the neighborhood… twice, I feel if he ever got out again we might lose him. When Chris is let out he usually starts by eating grass, nothing worrisome there, but I do have to remind myself that he is still a bad cat and I need to keep an eye on him.
Sunday afternoon I had to bring the trash out and Chris was at the door crying to be let out so I thought a few minutes outside wouldn’t hurt. As unusual, he ate grass while I brought the trash to the barrel at the side of the building. On the way back I got into a long conversation with the neighbors. While this was going on, I kept checking on Chris, who was gradually working his way toward the side of the building. When he got far enough away, I ended my conversation and went to get him.
Naturally, Chris doesn’t want to get got so he runs away from me, which I expected. My main goal was to herd him toward the front door. I’ve noticed lately that Chris tends to be very casual while outside until he knows it is time to come in, then he desperately starts looking for a lizard while avoiding getting caught himself. A few times he has shocked me by actually catching one with such short notice. On this day there were no lizards in sight but he wasn’t ready to be caught yet so he tried something new. He ran up the side of the tree in our front yard.
I was a bit surprised at first, especially because he went up it like he had done it a hundred times. I took my phone out and took a couple of quick pictures but then had to put it away because he started climbing higher and I wanted to get him while I could still barely reach him. He wasn’t too happy about being pulled out of that tree but unfortunately tree climbing is not one of the benefits of being an indoor cat.
Bad Cat Chris 