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Category: Kitty Tales

Sunday, December 05, 2004

It’s a cat’s life

In my next life, I want to be a cat.



Seriously ... what do cats have to worry about? Those that are lucky enough to have loving humans to take care of them anyway. They eat, poop, play and sleep. And sleep ... and sleep ... and sleep. Their humans come along every so often and give them a nice skritch on the head or a belly rub just to hear the purrs of contentment. In return, their antics amuse us and make us laugh. I recently got my kitties one of those round thingies with the ball that spins around and has a scratch pad in the middle. Lair has one for his furry crew ... it's where the Toy Take-away toys are on the Cat Cams. My kitties love it ... Dakota even sleeps on it. Or maybe he just passes out from catnip overdose. Great entertainment for only a few bucks!

I got all domestic and stuff this weekend ... I made a big pot of chicken noodle soup and a loaf of honey wheatberry bread. Oh my ... I was in heaven! But the smell of the bread baking all afternoon just about drove me batty! It was worth it though. We thoroughly pigged out. Then we watched a movie ... The Day After Tomorrow ... a good flick but depressing to think about, and much disbelief must be suspended to be able to go with the entire premise.

And I am DONE with Christmas shopping with the exception of one more thing for my mom! Yippee skippee! I did it all online at Amazon and Buy.com ... and if you shop there too, start with the links here on this site over on the left!


Submitted to Carnival of the Cats hosted this week at The People's Republic of Seabrook. Watch for the furry goodness after 7pm eastern.

Sunday, October 24, 2004

How much is that kitty in the window?

I found one of those window perches for cats on sale the other day.

Dakota is in kitty heaven ...




I wish I could get better pictures of the cats. They usually turn out OK if they are sleeping, but if they are up and moving at all, it is impossible. They always move right when I click the shutter. Sometimes the results are pretty interesting though, like this "Ghost cat" shot.




Spooky!

Sunday, August 15, 2004

Too cute

Life with kitties is never boring.

Every now and then, my Maine Coons, Dakota and Faith, get into this little contest ... who will bathe who?

I will wash you!

Oh no! I must wash you!

No no no! It is I who will wash you!

Other times, they just find there is not room enough for both of them to exist.

Move your butt!

No! You move YOUR butt!

No way! I was here first! You move!

I swear ... they're just like kids.

Thursday, July 01, 2004

The Infinite Cat

The Infinite Cat is a photo project where contributors send in pictures of their cats looking at a picture of a cat looking at a picture of a cat looking at a picture of a cat .... you get the idea. It's pretty cool. I thought it would be a great idea to get one of my cats to participate. Just set her on the desk, get her to look at the monitor and snap a picture. Easy as pie, right?

Right. Sure. Uh huh.

She was clearly not interested ... preferring to just lay there and stare at me. I think she thought I was out of my mind or something. Silly humans!



I also had problems with my cheap digital camera ... the flash reflection on the monitor, movement ... mine or hers, bad angles with the LCD monitor, too dark ...







The longer I struggled with the camera, flash, angles ... the more bored Faith became.








She didn't want to look where she was supposed to ... and kept moving around, making blurry pictures.





Dumb cat ...

But I think we finally came up with a winner!





Update: Faith is now an Infinite Cat!

Monday, June 28, 2004

Amazing kitty moment

My cat talks to me. Really ... she does. And I can understand her, or at least this time, I did.



I had moved the kitty box so I could clean the kitchen/dining room floor. It was inaccessible where I had put it. After sweeping and mopping, I sat down to catch my breath and wait for the floor to dry. I was sitting here, cruising through some blogs when Faith reached up and tapped my arm with her paw. I reached down to scratch her head but she stepped back and meowed. I asked, "What do you want, kitty?" She meowed again and took a few steps towards the kitchen. She looked back and meowed some more. I got up and followed her on into the kitchen. She sat down near the kitty box and looked up at me expectantly. I asked her, "Do you need the kitty box?" She stood up and I swear she nodded yes.

I moved the kitty box so she could get to it, and she hopped right in there and did her business. I went back to the living room chuckling to myself. But as I thought about it, that was pretty amazing ... she communicated her needs to me. She came to me, got my attention and did what she needed to do to convey to me what she wanted. Even more amazing is that I understood her.

Animals are so underestimated ...

Sunday, May 09, 2004

Kitties and sleeping

One of my two Maine Coon kitties, Faith, is a silly sleeper. She contorts herself into some of the wackiest positions imaginable. She usually starts out normally, but somewhere in the course of her naps, she twists and turns and goes through a variety of sleeping gymnastics. See for yourself!



Silly, ain't she?

Saturday, September 27, 2003

Furry fun stuff

Royal Canin Feline Breed Nutrition Maine Coon 31 Formula Cat Food

How cool is this? Cat food formulated for specific breeds. Maine Coons have certain health concerns such as hip dysplasia and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. They also tend to have sensitive tummies. My big guy, Dakota, gets bloody diarrhea if his food doesn't agree with him. I have to buy the expensive stuff from PetSmart to keep this from happening. I wonder how expensive this Royal Canin stuff is. They don't list prices on their site ... if you have to ask, you can't afford it???

A fly got into the house tonight. They are almost beside themselves trying to get the little bugger. It lands high up on a wall or the ceiling and they sit and scream at it, tails twitching. I keep telling them that flies don't understand kitty speak and it doesn't know they want it to come down and play.

Faith just now almost got it ... she went hopping across the room on her hind legs trying to catch it with her front paws. I swear Dakota rolled his eyes.

I think the fly is now a "walk" ... it's on the floor wiggling around and both cats are staring at it intently, every now and then one of them will tap it with a paw. Yep ... it's a goner. Man, you just can't buy entertainment like this!

Now they are here for scritches and belly rubs ... I swear, how did these cats get so spoiled???

Saturday, July 05, 2003

Kitties!

I finally got around to adding some more pictures of the kitties to my gallery ...

Cats are really bad for “red eye” with the camera flash. But I was able to fix them up with PSP7. (Now taking donations for PSP8!) I wish I could figure out why the links turn orange on mouse over. I will have to play with the Gallery CSS some more.

I have also been playing around with some Nucleus plug-ins. The Randomness one rocks! I have a ton of those cutesy email lists of quotes and quips. The way it works is it pulls a random line out of a text file. I spent about an hour culling through old emails to make a huge list of these things in several different categories. Maybe tomorrow I will set up another one to place a random image on the page.

I also installed one that places the Category name next to the title of each post. Very cool ... must email the author of that one too.

Trackback still has me majorly confused ... I tested it on a blogger that uses B2 and it didn't work. I have since read on the Nucleus support forum that there is an issue with Nucleus, B2 and Trackback. I will test it out on a MT site, if I can find one. I did get the Karma plug-in working OK. God knows I need all the good Karma I can get!

It's been a wonderfully geeky weekend ... and I just treated myself and the kids to ice cream. Good times.

For the most part. I ran into an old friend, from the old days at the store. Caught up with what has been going on, I deftly managed to avoid getting too much into my sons' issues. But of course, she had to ask if I was still seeing Jim.

Oh my god, if Jim ever were to know how he did me in. Just thinking about him, almost three years later ... I still die a little inside.

The truth of the matter is that I haven't been involved with anyone or even dated in two years. The "why" of it is complicated. I like to say that I am so emotionally wrung out from dealing with Bipolarville that I don't have anything left over for any sort of relationship. Or that my family is so crazy, I can't imagine anyone wanting to be involved with it on any level. In reality, I just do not think there is anything a relationship could offer would ever be worth the risk of being hurt like that again. So, I turn down offers for coffee and run like hell from anyone that might ask for a real date. I don't socialize any more, or go places where I am likely to meet anyone. Yes, am hiding.

Being alone isn't fun. But, at least for now and the foreseeable future, it is better than being hurt like that again. Better safe than sorry.

Tuesday, February 11, 2003

Just a little Faith

I spent some pixels talking about my beloved kitty, Dakota, a big, hunk of furry love, and how he soothes and comforts me. I have another kitty, Faith, who was adopted at the same time Dakota was. We kept the names the shelter gave them, and gave them a forever home. I found them by searching PetFinder.com and hooked up with a no-kill shelter near my home.

Little did I know the impact a little kitten could have ...
She was only 2 months old when I brought her home. My son was thrilled to finally have some pets here. As I have related before, he has several emotional and mental issues, including bipolar disorder. This makes simple everyday living a huge challenge for him.

Before he was diagnosed with bipolar, he was being treated for severe depression, including high suicide risk. At the time I brought the kitties home in June, he had already started his final descent towards a complete psychotic break. I truly believe that the presence of this little kitten played a major role in keeping him from literally falling into a dark abyss from which there could be no recovery.

My son immediately started calling Faith *his* kitty. Dakota was mine. He tended to her oh so gently, keeping her eyes cleaned, her water and food bowls filled, and even scooping out the litter box every now and then. He would laugh uproariously at her playful antics, pulling strings and toys tirelessly for her to chase. At night, he would tuck Faith into the blankets by his side and fall asleep with her curled in his arms.

Monday, February 10, 2003

The Prodigal Kitty

I arose Tuesday morning to the sound of the alarm clock and knew immediately that something wasn't right. I went downstairs and first noted how cold it was, and then I saw my back door standing open. Then it hit me ... my beautiful, beloved kitty was nowhere to be found. I searched his usual hiding places in vain, I ran outside in pajamas and bare feet and called for him. The damp cold eventually drove me back inside. Through my tears, I fed my other kitty, Faith. I wailed silently for my Dakota as I carried on with my morning routine.

Faith and Dakota are Maine Coon kitties. I adopted them from a rescue shelter last summer. Faith was a little kitten then, about 2 months old. Dakota was about a year and a half when I brought them home. Faith adapted easily to her new home, with the energy and curiosity inherent in any kitten. Dakota was a different story though. He hid beneath my bed and would not come out. He would come downstairs for food, water and the litter box, but if anyone moved, he would bolt back upstairs to his safe haven under the bed. I had been told by the lady at the shelter that they thought he had been abused before he was rescued. It seemed pretty likely to me, given his demeanor.

At night, after I got into bed, Dakota would come up and let me pet him. No wait, that's not quite accurate. He would *demand* to be petted and scratched. It became our routine at night. As I got ready for bed, he would pace back and forth, trilling and chirping as only Maine Coons do. I would settle in and he would present himself for ear scratching and belly rubbing. His purr was so strong and loud. I could feel the vibration through the bed. And I didn't even have to put a quarter in the bed!

For me, this relieved much of my nighttime loneliness. I am single by choice, and while I am comfortable with that, grateful even, the still of the night often brought doubts, longings and pangs of loneliness. This magnificent kitty kept me company and gave me unconditional love. He responded unabashedly to my attention with his deep rumbling purr and kneading paws. His emerald eyes would look at me with what could only be total adoration.