I Am Eight Cats Old...(So Far!)

Went to a cat show this past Valentine's Day weekend. Why? Because i have a show cat? Because i have friends with show cats? Because i was looking to acquire another cat? Nope. Like many "cat people", i just want to be around cats, and the more cats, the happier i am. So, once a year or so, i hang out at a local cat fancier's show for a few hours and just enjoy myself!

Love to watch the show cat owners transporting their fluffy babies to and from the judging.

...Are they just products to compete for ribbons with?.....

Don't think so....i can't look at these pics and see anything but love....

Hmmm, not sure exactly what this is - a giant Tribble?

And once you've seen a Sphinx cat, it's hard to forget! They are the hairless cats, interesting and spookily cute.....

 But really, i don't think i'd want to wake up in the middle of the night with something like THIS staring at me!

 i want a cat with all the stuff it's supposed to have - like fur,.... a tail,

                                                              Manx

                                                      .....ears.....! 

                                               Scottish Fold

My favorite breed - Abyssinian! They look like little cougars with an Egyptian flavor to them. As the saying goes, 'In ancient times, cats were worshipped as gods, and they have not forgotten this!". I have wanted one for years, but, besides the expense, there are no Aby breeders near me, and i don't want some poor kitten having to be SHIPPED to me! But, someday....

                                       A darker (Ruddy or Red ) tone

                                    And another Aby, this one Blue or Silver...

                                              At rest between judging

              I would NOT want to be a judge! Can YOU tell which one is better?

Had fun watching this little guy ~ most of these cats are laid back and don't mind any of the attention, but he was really complaining!

                                       I....DO....NOT....WANT!!!

The patterns are just awesome on some of these felines. This is a very light colored Bengal.

                Another oddity ~ a Rex, or curly coated cat. Reportedly hypoallergenic

i really liked this judge....

                Maybe making one of these posts into a scratching post wasn't such a good idea!

          ...Can you say "Velcro"?

                         Check out the tie!

i think this won the prize (in MY mind) for cushiest digs! This is a Somali, which is basically a longhaired Abyssinian, and one that i would want as bad or more than a shorthair Aby.

That's the end of the tour for now ~ oh, yeah, my cats ended up with a new Valentine's Day present, too!......

Mid WInter Musings

Speaking of Tillandsias, I must be doing SOMETHING right - one of them is blooming, which is really unusual for January! Maybe it's an extremely early sign of Spring (yeah...., that must be it!)

i have to turn the small gas heater in the Florida room on for a while every morning and evening in this weather, too, since the only South facing window is in there, and so that is where i keep all my tropical plants that live outside in the Summer.

 This pot of succulents summer over in my front porch box (the one facing West against the brick). In that box i have a mix of tropical and hardy succulents - the hardies are still out there -, since it gets so god awful hot that poor little annuals just won't make it. i have a thermometer out there that regularly reads 120-130 F when the air temperatures are in the 80's! These look so nice that i'm going to hate to break them up - i may have to leave as is and buy new ones for the box!

The pond has been frozen over for well over a month now, which is the longest period of time i can remember since we had the pond. Let's see, for December, there were 24 days in which the high temperatures were freezing or below! For January, there were 19 days so far, and really no change predicted for the rest of the month. And almost all the rest were in the 30's. So it has been at least TWO months that the pond has been frozen over. There were a couple of crises when the brand new (last winter) deicer decided to die just as it got real cold! Tractor Supply will be hearing about that! For a couple of days, all i had was a length of 2" PVC pipe stuck thru the ice for a tiny bit of oxygen! Finally found my back up, and have since seen some fish in there, plus my youngest Koi, so hopefully the older, i.e., hardier ones should be OK. Even saw some fry,(i really think calling baby fish "fry" is pretty funny - usually when i hear "Fish Fry" i'm thinking about making some tartar sauce)!

And the cats appreciate the sunny weekend days when i warm up the room and let them pretend they're actually outside!

Fishin For A Name..

Baby Skeeter and Godzilla having a conversation..

My first Koi was 2" long, cost a buck and a quarter, and was a pale yellow gold. I named him Godzilla (well, i had to name him something Japanese!), and he lived to be a foot long and bright orange, and would eat from my hand. He was pretty much a "common" variety, but i thought he was awesome! Koi can live for many years - unfortunately, Godzilla only made it to 6. When he died three winters ago, i was actually very saddened (yes, i know it's just a fish! So?), and did not have luck with Koi for quite awhile after him. I did get 3 small Koi two years ago, and one of those three became another favorite. He's white with black "cow" spots, and is very noticeable (hopefully the herons won't notice, though!).

But i can't think of a good name for him (her?)!

i'm hoping i can rely on my blog group to help me out! What do you think? (i do have an orange and black Koi, also - if there are two good names, he'll get one too! This is actually dangerous - you know what the "rule" of pondkeeping is - the first Koi to die young are either the most expensive, the biggest, or the ones you have named!)LOL

But I'll risk it! Please help! He's been nameless long enough!

Another Winter Walk In The Garden

Soon to be turning into Spring walks, I hope! About 7 more inches a few days ago, but i (WE- Crickit had to go out, too!) had to get out in the sunshine for awhile.

Crickit hanging out in the garden by the coldframe

The elephant is nearly invisible (more about him later).

We've had a decent winter - this was the biggest amount of snow all winter, it's been consistantly cold, but not bitterly cold - still, we need a short thaw, at least - this has been the longest the pond's been frozen over for years! Hope the fish are surviving!

Crickit doesn't seem to want to come inside yet!

Animal Abuse (With Love...)

Our two pet cats, Crickit and Skeeter, are indoor/outdoor cats, but they only are allowed out when one of us are also out. AND they have been trained to stay in the yard (Seriously!). We do have a 6 ft privacy fence around 80% of our backyard, so it wasn't as difficult as it sounds, but still, they are very good and don't try to climb the fence or get out. They DO chase bunnies, but stop when i yell at them, amazingly. So they don't wander, but they cannot be described as strictly housecats, either. Crickit's my garden buddy, she wants to be out as much as i do, but Skeeter- not so much! If it's cold or windy or wet, she's happy to sit in her window and look out at the weather. Of course, they do not go out at all in the winter months, but they(especially Crickit) don't understand why they can't go out, if it's sunny and they're warm INside, and commence to sit by the door, crying.So i remind them why they can't. Once a year, generally during one of our biggest snows, they get tossed into a snowdrift!

Crickit negotiating her way out

 It's also a reminder about how good they've got it, in case they've forgotten why these mean humans are holding them hostage in the house. It works - i don't hear any complaints from them for weeks! It's not total abuse - Crickit just sits there for a minute, gives me an "Are you nuts?!" look, then slowly (like it didn't bother her all that much) walks to the back door, shaking the snow off her paws.

All that's left of her ordeal

Life And Death In The Garden

i think something (somebody) fell into my pond yesterday. We have a pond de icer to keep a hole open in the ice in winter - i had it turned off, but had a very thin layer if ice a foot around it because it was turned on the day before. Came home from work, it had snowed and there was a light layer of snow laying on the thin ice. Curiously, though, there was a small hole in the ice, nowhere near the heater, and the snow layer around it was dark, like it had gotten wet. Although it was quite subtle, i had never seen anything resembling that before, and i'm really concerned that a bunny or squirrel had fallen through! Damn! i really hate animals dying in my yard, especially if it's kind of my fault! Plus, most of the rest of the pond has a thick, snow covered layer of ice on it- i'm never gonna be able to find anything if something DID fall in - so a dead body in there certainly will be dangerous for the fish when it decomposes. i could be wrong, though, and will have to keep my fingers crossed that nothing really happened.

These pics are a few weeks old - before the snow fell!

A couple of years ago, we were having trouble with raccoons spending too much time around the pond, and i set up little mousetraps here and there to discourage their new hobby. I had also put out little birdhouses in our trees in the Spring, so a few baby Wrens had just hatched nearby, and i 'd enjoy watching both parents feeding them. All was well for a while, then one day, i found one of the adult Wrens dead  in one of the traps! It's leg had been caught... i was very upset }:(  

Not knowledgeable enough to tell male from female, i of course assumed that it was Mom, which made me feel even worse! I got rid of the traps.

And yes, i find a fledgling bird in the water on occasion - although i never seem to find it before it's too late! Now, my cat Skeeter sometimes catches a Mole in the yard and, being a normally indoor cat, will not eat it, but will play with it to death. That's the one case in which Mom (me) turns the other cheek and lets Skeeter have her fun-saves my yard from being destroyed! (Although i still feel bad....)

Poor Kitty

Crickit wearing her "outside" collar (note the bells)

What's wrong with Crickit's nose? This happened to her last season - our cats go outside, but only when we're out too. We actually have trained them to stay in our yard, and that surprises a lot of people, but we do have a privacy fence around most of the backyard, it would be more difficult if there was no fence. So, anyway, when Crickit had this last year, i figured they were mosquito bites, and when she was indoors in the cold season, it went away. This year, it started the same time i started to find mosquitos biting me, so i again figured it was insects. Neither cat has fleas, and Skeeter hasn't got a mark on her. It's looking pretty nasty now, though, despite my putting Aloe on it (can't put much on it that is safe for her to lick off) so she's going to the vet tomorrow.

Summer Babies

...The Robin's chicks are getting big fast! The nest is almost eye level, very close to my workspace. We are pretty used to each other by now, i have even softly touched their feathers a little bit, and Mom didn't even yell at me, just watched nearby. She does fuss a lot when my cats are close, though! Don't worry, i keep an eye on them, but for the most part, they don't realize the nest is up there. When the chicks fledge and leave the nest, the cats will be "grounded" to the house!

Am i this excited about ALL baby birds? i have to admit that i am - i know this happens millions of times, but i love it. (Well, baby HUMANS are born almost as often, and everyone's always excited about THAT - hey, babies is babies!)


The bunnies are a little different story - I have been alarmed by the screaming of a bunlet ( not sure what baby rabbits are called!) when Skeeter finds the den! Yes, the rabbits cause some plant damage, i should let the cats do what instinct tells them to do, but i cannot hurt any babies!
Anyway, Skeeter, being an indoor cat, doesn't quite know what to do with them - at least long enough to give me time to rescue them! So the babes are safe for now!

SkeeterWorld

Skeeter - in her first month home....

Speaking of "the new kitten", about four years after we adopted Crickit, my other cat, Sneekers, passed away at the age of 17. It was very hard- she was, i think, the sweetest and prettiest cat i ever owned (more on her later). My husband didn't feel like going out and getting a new pet right away after that, but although i missed her terribly, i thought it would be better to bring another kitty home as soon as possible. As a result, i waited longer than i wanted to, and Crickit became used to being the "only child" in a hurry! After looking at shelters and the newspaper, i ended up adopting a tiny female calico (calicos are almost always girls!) kitten. When i brought her home, Crickit looked at the kitten, gave us both a betrayed look , hissed, and ran off! It took her a full six months to calm down about that - plus Skeeter, being a typical kitten, would happily chase, torment, and tackle Crickit, no matter how much she growled and hissed. It's been another four years, and unfortunately Skeeter hasn't slowed down at all, much to Crickit's irritation! We call Skeeter "Picasso", the way her face is marked, it makes her look lopsided, like a Picasso painting - she acts sort of caddywampus at times, too!