New Species of Bird

Several months ago, I put up a bird feeder in our backyard.  I mainly wanted to entertain the kitties, but it was spring and why not feed the birds (it's only tuppence a bag).  I covered all the bases and put up a finch feeder, a hummingbird feeder, a suet block, and a general "wild bird" feeder.  Well, since then, there has been a very fat something eating the wild bird seed very quickly.  I always thought we had a family of squirrels or raccoons eating in our backyard-- you know, the usual bird feeder guests.  Then, the other day I come home and happen to look out the window and see who had really been visiting us!!

Now, my question is: are deer cute enough that I continue feeding it, or should I take steps to try to deter it from eating out of my bird feeder?

Helpers

While putting up the fan down in the basement, we had to use a full-sized ladder and we discovered that the kitties (Mr Winks in particular) LOVE the ladder.  Winks loves it more than the cat tree I bought for him.  I guess that's a cat for ya, huh?  Winks wanted very much to help put up the ceiling fans and, in the process, kick us off "his" ladder.

Strangely enough, Martin was only interested in the ladder in as much as he wanted whatever Winks had.  He was much less confident on the steps and was not as nimble.  Winks would hang out on the steps, while Martin would only scamper up if something interesting was going on... like a feisty feather stick being rattled on the metal ladder.

We actually left the ladder up for a few days because the kitties loved it so much.  Are we spoiling them?

(Yes, that is a big belly resting on the step so that he can reach out and grab the feather stick with his paws.)

Walkies!

For Martin's Christmas 2010 present, we got him a harness and leash.  Now, I've never taken a cat outside on a leash before, but Martin is so persistent about escaping that we figured, "At least he'll be supervised this way and won't get hit by a car."

We didn't take him out too much .... because it was winter and cold.... but Martin quickly showed us that he didn't care about wearing a harness when he was outside exploring the Great Unknown!  We never make it very far into the Great Unknown; Martin's winter record was three doors away from ours.  Haha.  He moves very slowly when he stops to smell every bush and perk up at every noise around him.

    

(Lara loves those pictures because John is so tall and Martin is such a tiny cat.  She thinks it's hysterical.)

Anyway! Now that it is getting a bit warmer, I took him out again.  We very quickly beat our old record, making it FIVE doors down the road!  Whoa!  But then Martin got distracted again.... this time by a tree.  And I guess that a kitty will eventually do what all kitties love to do when they see a tree.  (Sigh)

    

Yes, I was terrified that the little goober would lose his balance, fall out of the tree, and choke himself on the leash.  I kept a very careful eye on him and how his harness was trying to wrap around the tree.  But I couldn't help but marvel at his determination and sense of adventure.  The owner of the tree who's yard we were in, of course, came home while we were exploring.  Thankfully, he was okay about us trespassing (not like some cranky pants would be) and just said, "I've never seen a cat on a leash before."  We shared a laugh as he went into his house.  I had to call it a day when Martin wanted to explore where our neighbor was going.  Silly boy, we are trespassers, not cat burglars!  Haha!

"OOH! What's over there?"

Question...

Would it be weird to get a weight-loss tracker widget for my cat's diet?  Mr Winkers is looking quite slim now, and we are about half way to goal.  :)

Don't Read without Tissues!

WARNING:  Tears ahead.  I'm serious, this poem really just made me tear up ... a lot.  Maybe because I'm a cat person or maybe because all my cats have been rescues, I don't know.  But you have been warned!  Get the tissues!

Thanks to the Snuggles Project website.  Check them out, they are a great charity!


Stray Cat
    by Franic Witham


Oh, what unhappy twist of fate
Has brought you, homeless to my gate?
The gate where once another stood
To beg for shelter, warmth, and food.

For from that day I ceased to be
The master of my destiny.
While he, with purr and velvet paw
Became within my house, The Law.

He scratched the furniture and shed
And claimed the middle of my bed.
He ruled in arrogance and in pride
And broke my heart the day he died.

So if you really think, oh cat,
I'd willingly relive all that
Because you come, forlorn and thin
Well...don't just stand there...come on in!

ABC Catch-Up

I is for... I don't know!  Rraarrrrg!  I don't have anything for I!  Epic Fail!

J is for... John, of course!  :-*

K is for... knitting!  So sue me, I went for the cheap and obvious choice; I have no excuse other than that I am behind on my alphabet.  But, I do have a bit to say that's new and interesting:  I am aiming for "12 projects in 12 months" this year.  I noticed that I was churning out finished projects this spring, so I decided to set myself a goal.  Admittedly, I have gotten a little sidetracked, what with having to pull out Mom's copper sweater and then Summer Camp giving me no free time or energy.  BUT! I am decided and determined.  I have so many half-finished project lying around that I think I can whip a few of them into shape and still meet my goal.  (And if all else fails, I have a 24hr round-trip car ride coming up next week. That should definitely give me time to knit!)

L is for... lifting weights!  I know, technically I am bragging when I report my lift successes, but I don't really care.  The other day, we were doing deadlifts and the guy resting behind us actually applauded me after I lifted 185lbs-- it was not even my personal best!  Score one point for tiny girls everywhere!  And if you combine the magic of Deadlift Fridays and the euphoria of No-More-Summer-Camp, you will get me rocking out multiple reps at my max weight (225lbs, thank you very much).  PLUS, after establishing that my calves are freakishly strong (my back starts to crumble under 315lbs, but my legs don't feel it), I felt even stronger when a muscle head stereotype was working 315lbs on his calves, too.  Me and the muscle heads!  Haha! ... I'm sorry, it's just too funny.

M is for... Martin!  Martin the new kitty has settled in quite well and is developing a personality of his own.  He is very twitchy and always seems to be mobile; I call him our little tap dancer.  He is very different from Winks, but they still get along.  They make me laugh at least once a day with their stereotypical "brother" attitudes.  For example, one kitty can be on the floor ignoring me, but if the other jumps up and starts purring because he is getting attention, then you better be sure that floor-kitty will soon become "He's getting loving, I want loving too!" kitty.   :)   Such brothers!  Though Martin meets my criteria for defective kitties: he has herpes.  No, cats don't get the genital kind; the feline virus lives in their eyes (ewwwww! gross!).  Soon after we got him, he started losing weight and had the worst eye-goop discharge I had ever seen.  The vet recommended oral antibiotics, eye drop antibiotics, then eye drop anti-virals for more than three weeks.  She said that cats, like people, will have the virus forever, but may only have outbreaks every now and then.  So, to date, I have chosen a cat with Feline AIDS, a cat with one eye, and a cat with herpes.  I am apparently the protector of medically defective cats.  Go, me!

N is for... new games!  This summer has seen the release of a much-anticipated sequels for both John and me.  John (and 99% of Korea) have been WAITING for Starcraft 2 to come out for over a decade and they all squealed in fanatic joy last week when it was finally released.  I didn't play video games back in the day, but apparently Starcraft is a real-time, war-strategy game where you command various troops and support units.  The original game has such a cult following that it is still sold in stores... 12 years after the initial release date!  So needless to say, there was much excitement when the sequel was released.  John has turned me into a video game widow this past week... but I don't care because my Puzzle Quest 2 was released too!!  Yay, PQ!  Puzzle Quest is basically Bejewelled with a plot line.  The battle mechanics are just a Bejewelled board, where matching the different colors charge up various attacks.  It's pretty stimulating because you take turns with the enemy, so you don't want to set up a great move only to have him steal it.  I LOVED the first one and was very excited for the sequel.  :)

Past Sillies

(trying to catch breath from laughing too much)  I revisited a HYSTERICAL video today; I wanted to share it with a coworker and decided to share it with you all.  If you have cats or engineers in your house, this will be beyond funny, and you might want to go ahead and visit the bathroom.... you know, just in case.  I don't want to be blamed for any accidents that may occur from laughing too hard while watching "An Engineer's Guide to Cats."

P.S.  We tried corporal cuddling on Martin last night to get him to stop begging for breakfast (AT 4:20 AM!!!) and it worked!  Thanks, engineers!   :)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You really should check out Paul the Engineer's other videos on YouTube.  But, if you are too lazy to link over there for the full view, here is a small, embedded window with his playlist.  The "Guides" are all around 6minutes, but the others are shorter.  You don't even need cats to laugh at the "Family Portrait," just imagine trying to arrange any 3 separate entities to sit still for any length of time!  Haha!  And if you fall in love with Engineer's Guide, check out their stuff-  I am trying not to get something that says "Don't Buzz Da Tower!"   hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha  .... silly kitties!

Random Silliness

Just because I haven't been around recently, I will update everyone with a dose of cute kitty pictures.  Because everyone could use some cuteness in their day!

Aaawwwww... The kitties are friends!

You play with that end, and I will play with this end!

HOW is this comfy for that cat?!?  He's done this a few times now and will stay until John kicks him out.

 Fat kitty & skinny kitty:  my ying & yang twins.

Little Brother Marty

         

Winks really zizzed me off today.  Two unprovoked attacks, plus numerous moments of defiance and refusal to submit to my authority ("mah  ah-thor-i-tay!") just pushed my over the edge.  He's been doing fairly well controlling his biting for the past week or so, but today he's ripped up my arm anew.  John scruffed him, dragged him upstairs, and shut the door, saying that Winks needed to behave because he couldn't listen to me fussing anymore.  Yeah..... not a good morning.  Winks has definitely reverted to his "bite-o-saurus" ways.

We had a deal that if Winks wouldn't stop biting us despite other training methods, then we would get him a friend in June.  He came from a house with dogs that he played roughly with, so we thought he just had lots of energy and poor sportsmanship.  However, in light of today's set-back, I dragged John to our Petsmart (it has a Humane Society adoption center in it) to get a friend a little earlier than expected.  There were maybe a dozen cats, but only a few were labeled "good with other cats" ... and two were sadly mislabeled.  That left us with a skinny little ginger tabby, about 6months old, named Marty. 

Marty has spent a good but of his time today attacking feather-mouse.

Marty definitely likes people, loves to rub up on you, and was indifferent to the various cats who hissed at him (we wanted to prove the "good with cats" label before we brought anyone home).  He's got a few fleas and could stand to have some weight put on him, but otherwise, they say he is healthy.  We'll take him to the vet as soon as we can get an appointment next week.

Who is that handsome kitty behind me?

As I write this, Marty is sequestered away upstairs.  We're trying to do this introduction the right way so that Winks and Marty will get along.  This whole thing is to acquire Winks a friend who will mellow him out; it's not worth it if the two felines don't play well with each other.  Can everyone pray / keep their fingers crossed for me that this crazy plan works?  I am irrationally stressed out about it all.

How often do you get the freeze-frame shot of the kitty eating something?  Everyone say, "Bleh!"

Fetch, Kitty, Fetch!

My kitty is better than all three Gallion dogs because he plays fetch and they don't!  HAHA! Take that, canines!

We probably played fetch last night for 15min before he got distracted.  John took a longer video of him, but since I was throwing the toy, I had a better angle of him holding mousie in his mouth.  Cats holding things in their mouth are super silly / cute!

This video was taken at the end of our session last night, so he was starting to get tired.  He was bringing mousie more towards the blanket rather than straight to me, but when we started, he brought mousie immediately back to my feet.

F is for...

F is for FATTY! and FELINE FETCH!

So I took Mr Winks to the vet today for his "new kitty" checkup to make sure he's healthy and all that.  The vet confirmed that he is a heifer, but not by much.  She says that he's not too fat, since he is larger-framed cat; but since he is a young kitty still, it's best that he lose a little bit of weight.  If he's a fat kid, he'll be a fat adult. (THE OBESITY EPIDEMIC ACROSS AMERICA IS SPREADING TO THE KITTIES!!! EEK!!)

The vet said to cut back his food a little bit and to make sure he gets his exercise.  She suggested that I take his dinner portion and toss it across the room .... kibble by kibble.  She said that her kitties like to do that every once in a while for dinner.  Kitty gets his exercise and eats slower, so it diminishes the chunk-belly in two ways!  (Now, I just need someone to do this for me!  Toss bites of steak across the room and make me chase it.  Haha)



We've been doing this most of the evening, and I can assuredly say that the kitty knows when the camera is out & running.  He's quite boring when I am filming him, and AS SOON as I put the camera away (LITERALLY the next throw) he will do something crazy and spastic.  Boooooo!

Above: The perils of the bouncing kibbles.

God looking out for us

So, with the passing of Mr Jones last week, my main question was, "How long do you have to wait before getting another cat?"  Not to be cruel to the memory of my previous kitty, but my house was feeling really empty without the pitter-patter of crazy, fluffy feet.  Let me also say that I can't remember the last time I remembered a dream, and in the first three nights of an empty house, I had not one, but TWO anxiety dreams!  Purring and fluff really does help calm the nerves, I guess. 

This is where you learn that God looks out for you when you need him.  While at work the Friday we had to put Harvey down, John encountered a guy he works with who was looking for a home for a kitty.  Apparently, the company had thought that a shop cat would be good for their warehouse, but then thought rationally about what goes on in a warehouse & nixed the idea (fork trucks, larges piles of boxes to hide in, and kitties don't mix well, I guess).  Our contact, Brian, was left caring for the cat who didn't get along too well with his dogs.  John says that one of the reasons was that the dogs probably chewed up all the kitty's toys, and so kitty would get bored (since he had no toys anymore) and harass the dogs.  Brian was not too keen on this and was looking for a good home.  Brian's girlfriend is the vet technician who fostered / adopted the grey kitty that was brought in with mysterious injuries to his eye.  They had to remove his eye, so he was named Sir Winks-a-lot. 

The missing eye really doesn't affect him, as far as I can tell.  He jumps up on things more than Harvey ever did (he's already mastered the windowsill, back of the couch, dining table, and bookshelf!).  The only really noticeable thing is that he has a very stretchy neck - which may or may not be due to the one eye.  Winks' neck is usually normal-looking, but when he sees something interesting, he cranes around and stretches out his neck to get a better view.  It's kind of funny the contortions he goes through looking out the window or watching TV. 

"A bird!! I sees it!"

So we are now four days into our "probationary week" ....that I don't think we'll need, honestly.  Winks spent the first night/ day hiding in his carrier, and was easily scared by the noises coming from everywhere.  However, rubbing and persistence got him out into the basement in small bursts.  Small bursts led to exploring, which led to more  loving and getting to know us.  Pretty soon, Winks was able to to remain calm while one of us went "upstairs" and made noises.  Even now, the fear of the noises from the ceiling is lessening.  He does still occasionally glare at the offending ceiling when one of us is clomping around upstairs, but not so much anymore.  :)

Today was pretty good: he's come into the kitchen several times today and traversed the stairs multiple times as well (the two worst places in the house for him).  We've been trying to increase the comfort Winks feels in the house and so far he seems to be doing really well.  He is such a lover cat and is quite content to sit next to you on the couch all weekend... with spurts of craziness every now and then, of course. 

I do have to admit, I am not used to such a big cat!  Harvey was 7lbs ... on a fat day!  Winks (we're guessing, since he maxed out our accurate scale) is around 13lbs!  Heifer Cat will crush you!  Ha ha!  His belly is fun to snorgle, though he doesn't like it too much.  He does like the games Toes Under the Blanket (you have to have the right safety equipment for that though!), Hair Ties on the Bathroom Counter, and the sequel: Hair Ties on the Bathroom Floor.  We are already having lots of silly kitty adventures as he figures out how everything in our house works, but we seem to be settling in quite nicely.

 "Stinking female! Move over! I am Heifer Cat! I need the whole couch cushion"

Best. Game. Ever!

Have you heard about what all the cool kids are playing?  It's only the best-est game ever.  It's RECEIPT UNDER THE DOOR!

I had a huge (HUGE!) grocery trip over the weekend and had the usual extra-long receipt ticket.  Somehow, it fell off the counter to the floor by the bathroom door.  Harvey already loves the What's Under the Door game and grew quite excited to see the second level, Receipt Under the Door.

He has gotten so into it that he has torn the original receipt into three pieces.  We have another in standby mode for when the first becomes totally decrepit.  Every morning with breakfast and in the evenings (during the "crazy time") we all pause to play a little Receipt Under the Door.  I hope to catch a vigorous session on video because Harvey Jones is so intent at getting the receipt that you will just laugh and laugh.

C is for...

 The Ref had to step in-- possibly for a "foul" play or Unnecessary Ruff-ruff-roughness.

C is for CUTE!!  Brace yourself for the adorable-overload!! Iiiiiiit'ssss PUPPY BOWL!!!  Animal Planet started a show to run on Super Bowl Sunday that would be just too cute to be ignored.  The premise is part silly, part humanitarian:  Animal shelter puppies playing in a football "arena" in order to raise awareness of adopting puppies from shelters.  It is a starting line-up of cute!  As Animal Planet describes:

About the Game ...
If your favorite team is on the bench instead of in the playoffs this year, it’s time to forget that post season slump. Some very special rookies are ready to take the field with a winning combination of tackles, fumbles and even a few tumbles, for their shot at the end zone —or a tug toy—in Animal Planet’s PUPPY BOWL VI. This annual canine battle is back as a new pack of pups mix it up on the grand gridiron of Animal Planet Stadium.

On Sunday, February 7 from 3-5PM e/p an all-star lineup of rambunctious, rescue pups competes in the ultimate showdown full of dogged defense, puppy penalties and fido first downs. Animal Planet has also booked a bevy of frolicking felines for an all-new edition of the Kitty Half-time Show. 

This year, they say there will be Bunny cheerleaders and a "rogue hamster" camera crew providing aerial shots from a blimp.  HAHAHAHA!!  What is better than the Puppy Bowl?  Mom and I stumbled across the Puppy Bowl a few years ago, and have been hooked ever since.  It's totally ridiculous and totally cute!  (and it repeats itself all afternoon in case you miss some of the action!)

If you want video clips from past years, go here; I can't embed anything due to copyright concerns.  Do a little browsing yourself and check out the cuteness if you can!  :)

Harvey's Snow Fun

Harvey was mildly interested in what we were doing out in the snow, and John kept saying that he was an outside cat for a long time, so he wouldn't mind the snow.  I claimed that he was too spoiled now to go outside, so we decided to test the theories.

Step 1- Try to lure him outside.  He had been left alone all weekend and was ready for lovings, but not enough to brave the snow.  I stood out on the back deck and called to him, but Harvey was having none of it.

Step 2 - Physical placement outside.

...3 seconds later..

Harvey says, "No way!"

This was as far as Harvey got outside.  Not even a full body-length out the door.

He then went immediately to the heater vent under the sink in the kitchen and looked disgruntled over being manhandled in such a cruel way.  Silly kitty. He is sooooo spoiled now.

Marshmellow Kitty Fun!

As part of the after-Thanksgiving loot, John and I got half a bag of marhsmellows (from the sweet potatoes, of course!) and he has been excited to eat them all because "they are just puffed air!"  and I cannot put a limit on them, as I do with most desserts.

So, the other day he was snacking on them, and Harvey was all, "Watchya got? Watchya got? Huh? Huh? Can I have some?"  John could not convince the kitty that he did not want any marshmellows, so he lined up his shot and dropped one down on Harvey's up-turned nose.  Rather than freak out and run away (as I was expecting him to do), Harvey said, "Fun toy!" and chased the 'shmellow around the kitchen... before losing it and coming back to John for more.

This continued for several marshmellows and I was just cracking up.  John kept boinking Harvey on his nose with the 'shmellow, and Harvey kept playing with them.  Soon, though, as with everything kitty-related, Harvey inexplicably lost interest and left the room.  :)

Harvey with his "kills"

(And did you all see how goooooooood John looks in a suit?  Yummy!  Hands off, though, he's mine!)