BEAUTIFUL CAT TREES

One of the blogs I follow is the Beeswax Chatterbox by Amy Kinsch. Amy owns Beeswax Rubber Stamps and some of my favorite stamps came from Beeswax. This creative lady also makes beads--some of the most beautiful beads I've ever seen.

Recently Amy and her husband, Wally, built some cat trees for their kitties. These aren't your ordinary cat tree/scratching post affairs. They are works of art. Very creative and very elegant. Take a look:

 



Aren't they lovely?!! Now I'm all inspired to build something similar for my own kitties! I'm half tempted to use one of my old cedar fence posts. The cats love to scratch on cedar, and all my cedar posts have scratching scars on them. *g*


Cat Pictures

A couple of days ago I notice my cat, Christopher the Assassin, sitting on a tree stump in the yard.  I grabbed my camera and ran out to take a few pictures of him.  He has the prettiest green eyes, and they showed to perfection in the photos.  After the photo shoot, he came in and joined me at my desk, where he has a bed.  He likes to keep me company while I'm on the computer.  The first picture shows him just about ready to fall asleep.  The second picture is Christopher sitting on the tree stump. (If you click on the pictures, you'll get a larger image)

Mom! The Cat Wants In--Again!

A week or so ago I posted a picture of Asterisk, my Boxer, standing at the slider, with my cat, Christopher the Assassin, on the other side of the slider.  I hung a bell on the handle of the slider, and trained Asterisk to ring the bell when she wanted to go outside.  Asterisk has taken it a step farther, and trained herself to ring the bell when she sees the cat at the door wanting in.  Here's another picture of her, doing just that.  I snapped the picture just after she rang the bell.

Mom! The Cat Wants In!

I've trained my young Boxer, Asterisk, to dingle a bell hanging from the handle of the sliding glass door when she needs to go out.  But lately, I've notice that Asterisk was dingling the bell even when she'd just been out.  I'd get out of my chair to reprimand her for dingling the bell when she didn't need to go out, but then get sidetracked when I noticed one of my cats wanting in.  So I'd open the slider and go back to my computer. 

This went on for a couple of weeks before I realized what Asterisk was doing:  She dingled the bell to let me know that a cat was on the other side of the slider, wanting in.  My desk faces away from the door, so I can't see a cat behind me at the slider.  But Asterisk can.  And she goes to ring the bell whenever one of the cats wants in. 

It's hilarious, really.  I never taught her that trick.  She figured it out herself.  What's more, the cats have learned to ring the bell themselves when they need to go outside, by observing me training Asterisk to ring the bell when she has to go out.  They put two and two together, seeing that every time Asterisk jingled the bell, I'd let her outside.  Smart animals!  (The above picture is one I took just after Asterisk had jingled the bell to notify me that Christopher wanted in.  You can barely see the blue and green cable ties just above her head, from which I've hung two large jingle bells.  The buckets on the porch were from the 2 weeks of cold weather when I had to carry buckets of water to the barn for the horses when the water at the barn froze.)

Lord Byron's Profile

Here's another picture of Byron.  I told you he liked to pose.  This picture was originally bigger, but I cropped it down, because I wanted to focus on his profile and his long whiskers, standing out stark against the dark background.  Isn't he a handsome boy?

Byron Gets Contemplative

The other day, Lord Byron (my cat) was in a very contemplative mood.  He was a study in otherworldliness.  This is a very photogenic cat, and he is an excellent photographic subject.  Most animals get silly and self-conscious when a camera is aimed at them.  Not Byron.  He's a ham.  Isn't this a handsome picture?

Funny (and not so funny) Animal Shenanigans

I'm sitting here at my computer and I hear my cat yelling at me for some attention.  I look down just in time to see him lean heavily against a box on the floor, attempting to rub his face against it.  The box slides across the floor.  The cat staggers and falls down.  Oops!  A little too much body English!  Embarrassed cat fastidiously licks himself, pretending it didn't happen.  Kind and sensitive owner that I am, I laugh hysterically.

I did not laugh yesterday when my puppy, Asterisk, chewed the power cord on my new drill.  She didn't even have the decency to chew the plug end, which I could have replaced.  Nooooo.  She chewed it off where it enters the drill, leaving no room to splice a new cord.  I caught her in the act, and was able to punish her, which probably didn't have much of an effect on her, but it made me feel better.  :-) 

My New Gate

I just finished painting the new gate I built for the front porch.  The old gate was forever getting out of alignment, no matter how many times I tightened the hinges.  This made it sticky, and I kept planing off wood from the side to keep it from sticking.  Then it would sag some more and scrape the deck when I opened it.  I finally got tired and chucked it.  Now, the new gate is perfect!  It is perfectly level and swings shut with the touch of a finger.  I love it!  And it's completely green, because I didn't have to buy new lumber.  And I used paint left over from previous projects. 

Now I'm in a building mood!  Oh, hey, I just came up with an idea!  I'll build a cozy cat house on the back porch for the cats.  It'll be a place for them to get in out of the rain on days they're outside and don't want to come in.  Right now, they have a bed on a small table on the porch.  The roof overhang is really large (4 feet long), so it protects them from the elements.  So I'll build a box and install it under the kitchen window so they can peer into the house and scare me with their eye reflections.  Which is what they do now.  Let me tell you, it's really spooky to see two pairs of eyes watching you at night!

I think I'll hang the box/bed on the side of the house, under the kitchen window, and either build a ramp to the box, or probably just put a footstool below it, so they can jump to the box from the footstool.  Yup, that's the ticket!

Cats in the Dog House

It got up to 96 degrees today, and I checked the back porch to see how my two cats were doing in this heat. They have a bed on a small table on the back porch, and that's the place where they hang out most of the day. They weren't there. But I heard a meowed greeting. It took a minute to realize that both cats were sacked out in comfort in the igloo-type dog house! I don't know if it was cooler in there, but the cats seemed quite comfortable. They looked so funny that I just had to take a picture of them!

The Joys of Puppy Ownership

Guess what I came home to tonight after critique group? A very happy puppy, greeting me at the door. She was just so excited to see me. She was all smiles and puppy wags. Only problem is, I locked her in her crate before I left for group tonight. Somehow, she figured out how to open the door, and oh my, did she have a good time. Yes, she pooped and peed all over the place. But she was very selective. She only pooped and peed on the rugs. She completely avoided all the linoleum. Thankfully, she did not tear anything apart.

And she got into the cat's water, so she tanked up really well. The throw rugs are now in the washing machine. I’m so glad they are machine washable, because they are expensive rugs. I'm going to have to tear out both carpets in the library. I know from long experience that it's a lost cause trying to save them with urine smells in them, and the bottom carpet is old anyway, so out it goes. The top carpet is relatively new, but it's already had a few previous accidents on it, and though I took it outside and hosed it down really well when it happened, and let it air dry in the sun for a week, it's now toast. I'm not supposed to be doing any heavy lifting, but this can't be helped. The carpets have to go. Too bad, because the top carpet was practically new.

Things could have been much worse. She could have destroyed the furniture. Terrorized the cats. Gotten into the living room with my pale oatmeal-colored carpet (a sturdy puppy gate prevented that). Now the little blighter is in her crate sawing logs after I cleaned up all the messes around the house. I guess all I can do is laugh. *g*

Here are some pictures I took today of Asterisk and Christopher playing hide & seek. For a cat, Christopher is so good natured about the puppy. He doesn't use his claws at all. Are these cute pictures or what?















(Top) Christopher on the other side of my desk, tempting Asterisk with The Paw of Death.

(Bottom) Christopher has just leaped out at Asterisk from behind the footstool with an, "AHA!"














(Top) Ready to play patty-cake

(Bottom) A pounce ready to happen

This picture cracks me up. Asterisk had been jumping at Christopher when Christopher suddenly whipped out his paw to slap her face (notice his claws are sheathed). Asterisk stopped so fast her loose puppy skin accordioned about her neck and shoulders. Too funny!

Puppy Shenanigans

My new Boxer puppy, Asterisk, is making overtures of friendship to Christopher the Assassin, my cat. Christopher likes dogs, and was best buddies with my old Boxer, so he's tolerating the pup pretty well.

The picture above Shows Asterisk under my desk, trying to reach Christopher. And Christopher knows that the puppy can only get her head and front feet through that little hole at the bottom, so he is sitting tantalizingly close, just to tease the puppy. Animals are so entertaining.

I happened to have the camera on the corner of my desk today, so I was fortunate enough to catch a cute picture of Christopher sitting atop the desk, peering sneakily down at Asterisk, who was under the desk. A moment after I took that picture, an unsuspecting Asterisk moseyed out from under the desk and suffered the indignity of a series of rapid-fire slaps to the head (no claws) from Christopher, who'd been hovering like a vulture waiting for the chance to nail her.

Christopher thought it was great fun, but it startled the daylights out of Asterik, who thought the demons of Hell had landed on her head. It was hilarious watching Christopher planning his attack and waiting in tense expectation for Asterisk to get in range. I love my animals. They're better than TV.

Funeral Duty

My cat, Christopher the Assassin, is a killer. If it moves, he kills it. If it's edible, he eats it. If it's not edible, he eats it anyway. I've never owned a more bloodthirsty cat.

Today, on my porch and sidewalk, there's an interesting array of victims: a rat, a mole, a mouse, a shrew, two birds, a snake, and (sob!) a baby bunny. And what does this macho cat do after he's spent the morning hunting and eating? Comes into the house and demands lap time, with accompanying purrs and kneading. Just as if he were a normal, law-abiding cat without feral tendencies.

But I guess that's okay. For the first time in 34 years, I don't have moles in my yard. Since Christopher began hunting moles, I've been mole-free for years.

Now it's time for me to go out and do funeral duty, which means picking up the various bodies and flinging them into the woods. How about your pets? Do you have any critters that are hunters like Christopher?

The Life of Riley

Today I glanced out my slider and saw both my dog and my cat snoozing on the deck. The weather was beautiful, and both animals were dead to the world.

I absolutely had to take a picture of my cat. His name is Lord Byron, and he was lying on his back, hind legs spread, one paw flung out, the other curled on his chest. He was snoring. That's him in the picture. You can see my dog's hind legs in the left side of the picture.

I once had a very large orange cat who curled up inside a very small cardboard box for a nap and got stuck. He had wedged himself in so tightly that no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get out.

Animals are so entertaining. Nova, my Doberman, has a whole box full of expensive toys, but does she play with them? No. Her favorite toys are a plastic 1 gallon planter from the nursery, and half of a tennis ball that split open. What about your pets? Do they shun their store-bought toys in favor of something more rustic or unusual?

Awwww . . .

I just had the cutest thing happen. I bent down to pet my cat, Christopher the Assassin, and he stood on his hind feet and reached his arms up, just like a toddler wanting to be picked up. I realized that's how I always pick him up: a hand under each armpit, fingers circling his chest, and up he comes, nice and comfortable. It's how I put him down, too, so he's very comfortable with that method.

He's actually been doing this for some time, now, and I just didn't realize it. I think it's so endearing, and shows a level of trust for a cat. Christopher is the Bwana, the Great White Hunter (thus the assassin part of his name), so it's a double pleasure to know that such a fearless hunter likes his cuddles so much that he practically begs for them.

How do your pets let you know they want a little affection from Mom? (Or Dad!)

Of Colder Weather and Sneaky Cats

The weather has changed and fall is definitely here. It's cold and rainy, and I've been hunched up all day. I get cold sitting at the computer, as my desk is in a corner, against 2 outside walls. I keep warm by climbing into one of those funky body wrap "snuggle bags" that look like an oversized sleeping bag. You know the kind--you step into it and zip it up to the waist, and the rest drapes around your shoulders like a shawl. Toasty warm, if a bit awkward to get into and out of. I tried staying in the snuggle bag and hopping around when I needed to get somewhere, but that was too undignified, not to mention exhausting, so now I just unzip and climb out.

I had to go to the kitchen to make lunch a few days ago, so I unzipped the bag partway and climbed out. I left it draped over my chair so that when I returned, all I had to do was step in, sit down, and zip up. That's when the fun began, because I didn't realize that in my absence, one of my cats had crawled into the bag and curled up at the foot. So when I returned, I climbed into the bag, getting irritated that my feet seemed to be tangled up in an excess of material at the bottom, while simultaneously marveling at how much of my body heat was still trapped in the foot of the bag. That's when something attacked my stockinged foot in an excess of kitty playfulness. And that's when I realized there was SOMETHING ALIVE in the bag with me!

What ensued next was worthy of a Mack Sennett Keystone Cops movie. Have you ever tried to claw your way out of an overlarge snuggle bag that contained a suddenly startled cat that is also trying to claw his way out before you? I fell off my chair and somehow ended up clinging by my fingernails to the ceiling. My cat was beside me hanging upside down by his claws. We looked at each other, then down at the demon bag. Then we dropped down from the ceiling, straightened our clothes, and tried to act nonchalant. Since then, my cat won't have anything to do with the Snuggle Bag That Eats Cats. Can't imagine why!

Have you ever had an experience where you were startled/frightened by a varmint, domesticated or not? Ever had an encounter with a wild critter? What happened? Do tell!

Cats - Gotta Love 'em

Most of my writer friends have cats. I think cats are very good for the creative soul. My two cats, Christopher the Assassin and Lord Byron, often keep me company when I write. (That's Lord Byron on the left) Usually, they sprawl on my desk and offer editorial comments and get cat hair in my coffee. They are great company, as is my dog, Nova.

Writing is a solitary profession, and writers tend to be hermits. That's probably why so many writers have cats or dogs--for the companionship as well as for the calming influence. As a reader, I love nothing better than to curl up on the couch with a good book in my hand and a comfortable cat in my lap.

If you're a writer, do you have a cat or dog or some other pet? Do they hang out with you as you write, and do you find their company a help or a hindrance? (All those who have cats that drape themselves over your forearms as you type, raise your hand!)