Homemade Play Hut

This is Nigel's homemade tent. No matter how many times I take it down and put it where it is supposed to be, he immediately makes a tent out of it again. I think it is pretty smart. He likes his little homemade play hut.

Cats are Mysterious Creatures

Cats are truly unique creatures. I have observed that in a household of cats there seems to be a well understood pecking order. One cat is always in charge. He/She is the “boss of all cats”. The other cats never provoke a fight with that cat unless they are really, really upset and angry about something. Usually the other cats fear this cat. Occasionally, an up and coming “boss cat” will try his chops out on the current boss cat just to see how much headway that he can make off of him. Without fail, he is always promptly put in his place just to slink off and resume his underling status in a quiet and embarrassed kind of way. Even so, the day will come again when that cat will test his fortitude once more with the boss cat.

Another interesting factor about this “boss cat” observation of mine is that you cannot second guess who will be a boss cat. They may not be the biggest cat. They can be a female or male. It is more of a personality thing. These cats are ambitious.

Blaine was my first boss cat. After he passed, Max became the boss cat. Max would periodically test himself against Blaine. I remember one day watching little kitten Max stare down Blaine. Blaine did not flinch. I knew Max would lose this round of the “feline head of the house contest”. Blaine was a big, lumbering, good natured, sweet guy but he was the boss and he was not about to take any guff off a little Johnny-come-lately. After about 5 minutes of this intense stare contest, Blaine grew tired of this nonsense and suddenly slapped Max across the room. Max rolled and tumbled about two feet, turned around and gave Blaine a frightened look and did not try that strategy anymore for about two months until he got the nerve to try out his muscles again.

I have known from the time I adopted Oliver that he was the up and coming “boss cat” of our family. Even though he is so sweet and cuddly, he wants to be boss because he is ambitious. He would try his chops on Max from time to time and it would stun me to see such a sweet, little kitten try to take the title away from someone who was obviously so ensconced in his authority. You would think that Nigel would be the boss because he is like a bull in a china closet, running willy-nilly and doing whatever his hard little head wants to do. But with Nigel it is all about him. He has no desire to rule. He has too much to do, places to go and people to see.

Well, since Max is gone now, Oliver has completely assumed the title. There was no coronation full of pomp and circumstance. The transition happened seamlessly in a quiet, humble way. Slowly, Oliver began taking over the places that strictly belonged to Max. Oliver now sleeps where Max used to sleep. From time to time, Oliver slaps Nigel just to remind him that he is the new boss. Claude has been comforting me because he is a comforter. He knows I miss Max and he misses Max too. Oliver is on the “boss” throne. The king is dead; long live the king.

Sad Day For Me; Happy Day For Max

Max went home today but not to our home. He went to his Heavenly home. He is there waiting for me along with his brothers and sisters that have gone before him. To him, it will only seem the blink of an eye until I am there with him and there will be many there to care for him until I can again. The only sadness is here where I am because of my separation from him but I know we will all be together again someday as the old hymn says "in the sweet by and by...".

Blue Makes Me Blue

You might think that having a pack of cats would mean that when one was missing; his absence would pretty much be undectable. Well, I have news for you. If you did indeed think that, you would be very wrong. My Maxie is missing. Oh, I know where he is, he has not run off like Nigel and Oliver did once. He is just not in the house with me where he should be. He is in the animal hospital. I never have talked much about my Maxie but he is truly very special. He came to me in an odd sort of way and at the time, I did not want him or I should say, I was not in the market for another cat. But then, I never am. He had belonged to another family before I got him. They had adopted him for a short four weeks before they decided he might be "too unruly" for their household. After they basically abandoned him with their veterinarian, he lived in the animal hospital (where he is right now) for one week before I went and picked him up. I never will forget walking in and seeing him in his cage at the clinic. He was a very beautiful, small blue solid sort of double-coated kitten. He was about 12 weeks old then. He sat all alone in his cage with about ten toys. He just peered at me as if he was asking "What do you want?" I brought him home and honestly, he did not like me. He really didn't and that was a first for me. I had never had a cat that was not crazy about me. He did not want me to touch him and he detested it when I tried to pick him up. He was probably thinking I would abandon him like his other family had. In short order though, he grew to like me and then to love me. When he was six years old, he was diagnosed with diabetes. We grew even closer at this time because it required a lot of hands on care from me for him. It is a commitment for me to care for him each day. It made a bond between us that is unique and special. He is twelve years old now and his diabetes may have taken a mortal toll on him. As I said, at this time he is hospitalized and hopefully, he may eventually get to return home with his family but he may not. His absence speaks loudly to me. There will be a hole in my heart until he comes home again and sometimes waiting for someone or something to come home can be a long, long wait, an eternity even. Until then, I love you, Maxie. We have your toys waiting for you!

Craft Room Almost Done!

Have you ever had one of those days when everything you had planned to do got topsy-turvied and your day did not turn out a thing like you had planned the day before? That is a rhetorical question. Nod, your head yes because I know you have. Everyone has. That has been my day. However, I did make progress in the craft room. It is almost finished but still has a couple of missing items. When this room is complete, I am then tackling my office room. The craft room has motivated me. This is my crafting table missing the stools that will sit up to it.

Those are all of my crafting supplies organized on the wall and my Mom's sewing machine and my sewing machine. I found some fabric in my Mom's sewing machine that she had used to make a blouse for me when I was 15 years old. I wish I had found that when I was making Carol's quilt. That would have been a cool piece.

My crafting supplies again...

I had to take a close up of this lamp. I WON it in a silent auction!!! It is almost 60 years old! It is one of those old style television lamps. Cool, huh? And it matches my craft room!

I am using this little bench for more storage area.

Craft Room Progress

We painted the craft room yesterday. It only took me all Summer to get it done. In this picture, Claude is checking it out. When something changes, cats must check it out. That is an unspoken cat rule.

The color of the paint is almost exactly the color of the page background here at Nigel's Mom blogspot. It is called peridot and it is very cheerful. The picture below was taken after I got the shade back up. Whew, it was a lot of exhausting work. I could not have accomplished it without Shelly's help. Again, Shelly bails me out of these projects I am always taking on. I am very lucky to have her as a friend. She is a great resource because she has many talents especially in home decorating. I am so very fortunate to have had many true and dear friends all through out my lifetime. God has always smiled on me that way. :)

Las Vegas, King Henry and other Questions

Everyone that knows me knows that I dream about moving to Las Vegas. Occassionally, I go over the pros and the cons on moving to Vegas and one of the cons is that Las Vegas is hot! I hate hot! Well, guess what? It is hotter here today than it is in Las Vegas. So, I guess that is a non-issue now. I can strike that from the con list. I really would like to move to England but I am 'trying' to be real and that is probably not the best idea for me. I would have to quarantine my kitties for six months and honestly, I could not do that. Las Vegas though...all I have to do is take off driving.

The topic of moving and to the English countryside reminds me of a movie I was watching the other night, "The Other Boleyn Girl". First, this is a book in the category that I love, historical fiction. This particular book is more fiction than history but still the book is good, the movie not so much. Okay, I will come right out and say it. The movie is a yawn fest. Natalie Portman plays Jane and she is just all wrong for that part. Natalie is beautiful and I love her in other movies but in this one, she did not do justice to her part. Scarlett Johansson played Mary Boleyn. She was more well suited for her part but something about that I still didn't like. Well, probably because both of these young women are American and their accents were lacking. As you can see, I am very particular about casting. Anyway, long story short, most people are aware of King Henry's reputation. In the most auspicious light, he was 'difficult'. At the most severe angle, he was a tyrant. In King Henry's day and days not so long ago, women were possessions and held no rights as human beings. To say that life was tough for women then, is a pathetic understatement. Mary had been used by her uncle and father as a pawn to gain favor from the King. And as he did of all women he became close to, the King eventually became bored and tired of Mary wishing her removal from court. In this particular movie, Jane broke the news to Mary and told her that she was "banned to the English countryside." I am thinking 'Hey, how do I get banned to the English countryside???" Some punishment, right? I am thinking things are looking up for Mary. I am thinking Mary will probably run outside and shoot off a rocket or something. Well, guess what Mary did. Rather than jumping in the air and clicking her heels, she burst out bawling! Can you believe it? I am thinking "You silly, silly woman! This is your chance! Run!" Apparently, Mary preferred staying at court and continued abuse by the King (remember only in this movie). I think this was an artistic license taken by this particular author that stepped too far across the line. I refuse to believe any person could be so intent on self destruction to despair about being banned to the English countryside. That is when this movie became too unbelievable for me. No one is that silly. Are they? Just something to ponder.

Gekko Hunting Friday Night Doo Da, Doo Da

We had a big gekko hunt last night, all night and most of the day. Let me tell you, when those two boys get something in their minds (like gekkos), they do not forget. They are both asleep right now because they literally not figuratively climbed the walls last night when we had another gekko in that same area. There is a cable connection in the corner of the room that is small enough for a tiny gekko to mistakenly and regretfully find his way into the "Land of Feline Hating Gekkos". The ceiling is very tall so it requires much feline patience to await the gekko's descent. So sometimes an impatient kitten decides to 'climb for it' or go for the gold in other words. That is what we have happening in this picture. Plus, this is a pretty good picture of Nigel's little short tail. Nigel got pretty far up on those spindles before sliding down. The spindles are damaged now as you can see but hey, why get upset about that, right? If I became upset about everything that I owned that had been damaged by a cat in my lifetime, well, I would be pretty upset. But I am not upset. I just keep right on loving the kittens in spite of and because of their antics.
This is how a kitten looks after too much gekko hunting.