Cats Are Smart! ;)

Cats know how to survive. They are wily. Look what my little boy did. He went from having to sleep on a window ledge:

To sleeping in a bed with a pillow:

Now that is smart! He relied only on his own skillset and charisma to accomplish his goal! Yes, cats are smart. ;)

Too Much Play

This is what happens when you have been playing too much ball. Sheer exhaustion. What a pitiful little kitten.

Little Stowaway

I am making another she art piece. I do not have anything ready to take a picture of yet though. It will not be of me this time. I am already having so much fun with it!
In the meantime, I made this photoshop of Little Jake wondering if he should stowaway. I cannot even fathom traveling with a pet in the baggage area. No way would I ever relinquish one of mine to the baggage handlers. If we cannot travel in the cabin together or in a vehicle together, we cannot go together. Little Jakey will have to stay home with his Miss Danielle.

It is a Cat Thing!



Look at these cute kids helping me clean out the bedroom. I spent two days cleaning in that closet and bagged up more clothes than I can say with a clear conscience. I had three bags of shoes alone. Shoes are heavy too. The place where I took all these clothings said I needed to bind the shoes together with rubber bands first before bringing them down. Well, that took a long time. I had these two guys here helping me all the while. This is the bedroom in a good state. Wow! At one point, I and they could hardly walk around in here. This is a respectable state of disarray when I didn't feel embarrassed to take a picture. It is all clear now. All of it is gone. I had my car so packed with clothing that I really didn't even feel comfortable relying on my rear view mirror to inform me if all was clear behind me. Notice that Henry and Jacob are lying on my pants and shirt. It is a cat thing! The only other thing that could have possibly enticed them away from those clothes is if I had put an open book out there. Then, they would both have tried to lie on that at the same time.

De-cluttering and other "de-s"

Look at this! Anyone familiar with this bookcase will know I really de-cluttered! It was difficult! How do you decide which books you will no longer keep on the shelf? In the library business, we call this weeding. Wow, did I weed! I got it down to a few necessary volumes. By all means, keep the cookie recipe book out! Plus, you never know when you might need to reference a Harry Potter volume or a book about Henry VIII.

I even decluttered the columbarium and made it look more formal. A little insight here, usually more than I freely give; see that urn box on the right with the white cat hugging a pink heart that says "I love you"  and the black depiction of Bastet atop it? That is my kitten, Russell Lee in there and I cannot touch that box without tearing up. The energy coming off that box is powerful stuff! I could be blind folded and someone could hand me that box and I would still tear up. I know it seems weird yet it is true. There are odd things in this universe of ours, aren't there? Fascinating too.

Plus, I left a few pictures of a few of my 'human' loved ones in there. Sometimes my humans like to know that I care about them too.

Today is a big 'de' day for Jacob! He is getting as they call it 'de-sexed'. Ouch! It may hurt a little now but he will be a much better cat for it later. The odor surrounding the boy lately has not been that pleasingly fragrant. He is getting microchipped too in case I ever lose track of  the little whipper snapper somehow, someway. Look, it has happened before but this time, I will not be caught unprepared should it ever happen again.

Cinder-henri

I have talked a lot about my house cleaning. Now, I have decided to show pictures of it. In the picture below, everything is going into boxes. I even took off the fireplace screen. I put that fireplace screen and andirons out at the curb later in the afternoon and someone claimed them. Yay!!!



This picture is not related to anything other than it was just a weird phenomenon that I had to include in this post for interest. I kept trying to take a picture of the fireplace after I had cleaned it out. This weird sun thing kept shooting up the fireplace as I would take the picture. There was no sun there! I would snap and then 'woosh' sun! I never could get a picture of it without it. Does anyone know what that is about? It was weird!

Okay, so maybe later in the day Henri became mesmerized by the fireplace-sun phenomenon and started trying to do that shooting thing like the sun did. However, he did not fare so well. Poor Henri! He did not like his bath that I had to give him to remove 5 lbs of soot. Do you think he is considering dunking his head into his water bowl? I don't think he was. He looks mistreated but honestly, I am a good cat mom!





Ollie the Megaphone

Remember not long ago, I was relaxing in the bathtub when Little Jacob took a dive into it? This morning, I was again in the bathtub which I find to be a very relaxing time of the day that I often look forward to enjoying. I was focusing intently on soaping up my loofah when out of the blue just like a blast from a foghorn, I hear "MEOW".

It almost startled the bejeepers out of me! I do not know what that boy was up to but Ollie had come into the bathroom and was making some sort of extremely loud announcement. I tried to figure it out. I asked him a few questions. I performed an interview on him. He casually softly meowed back a couple of nonchalant answers as if whatever caused his initial earpiercing outburst had passed. Sometimes I wonder about that boy.

Look at My Moon and Stars

It is so very difficult to make up a bed at my house. My little Moon and Stars likes to play on the moon and stars of my sheets. Those two, Nigel and Jacob, played on that bed for over an hour while I was trying to make it up. I would straighten an edge then leave it because it stirred up such a whirlwind of activity. I would come back and straighten a little piece more. Do you wonder why I do not make them get off of it so I can make it up sensibly? The answer is because I love to watch them play and I love for them to be happy. If it is true that most of the atoms making up your body once were atoms of some far away sun that exploded, my Jacob's, Nigel's, Ollie's and Henry's atoms are from what must have been the most beautiful stars ever to exist in the sky.

The Same Old, Same Old only Cooler

I did not think it ever would but it finally did cool down here. Recently, it has been in the lower 30's at night. That is great! I am an ice queen! I love it to be frosty cold. I have not turned on the heater in the house or car yet. I suppose if it gets down in the 20's, eventually, I may turn on the heater. I do not worry about myself because I know I will never get too cold but I do worry about these fur balls. However, they know what to do when they are cold. Find a comfy, snuggly blanket and pile up in front the television! That way mom won't have anywhere to sit and she might walk by some cat food then spontaneously decide to put some out for a snack. I think Little Jake is acclimating to living in the house quite well. Here he is snuggled up with his best friend, Henri. These two can tear a house down when they set their minds to it.

Cats and Flies Do Not Mix

When you have a boatload of cats and a fly gets into the house, bad things happen. Let the evidence speak for itself.

Dermatologically Challenged Henri

I have been busy lately with my "movie thing". You can't really take pictures in a movie theatre. Well, you can but it would be frowned upon and you might get tossed out.

In the mean time, little Henri's skin ailment is clearing up.  He is allergic to chicken. From now on, only venison  for little Henri.

Henri at last vet visit



Little Jake Just Because



Henri Looking Good Yesterday

With a Little Help from my Friends

Jacob has his own doll and he likes it. Lately, he has been playing with his doll quite a bit. His doll is Sylvester. Sylvester looks like Jake a little but Jake is cuter, of course. :)

I do not usually get large segments of time to do house work so I play 'catch as catch can' when it comes to house work. However, I always make a point of doing it. It just doesn't get done all at the same time. Okay, last night, I was vacuuming.

I talk a lot to my kitten boys. We have long chats. Anyone with pets understands this. These conversations are often funny. I should record our conversations. Last night, in between jaunts of vacumming, I was telling them how I really would appreciate it if they would help more around the house. I even suggested to Jake that maybe he could get a 'modeling' job since he is so darn beautiful. Of course, Nigel, Ollie, and Henry immediately got jealous so I had to convince them they were model quality too and could in fact go with him when auditioning for commercials and what not. Henry said he could drive as we had been out in the car a lot together lately. He thinks he has the driving thing down.

So what is all of this leading to? This morning as I was walking past the vacuum where I left it last night, someone (Jake) had propped up Sy against it. I am pretty sure Jake told him to 'get to vacuuming' because no way in heck is a 'real cat' going to work but 'mom needs help around here'.

When I walked back past it about 30 minutes later, it looked like this.

I guess Sy passed out from exhaustion already.

Woman With Cat

Look at this vintage picture of a lady holding her cat while wearing only her slip. It is kind of weird. Well, more than kind of...a whole lot of. That is pretty dangerous behavior, I think. Little Jacob or Nigel would scratch me up. Ollie or Henry would not because they are sweet kittens. Those two rarely extend their claws ever. Not that Nigel and Little Jacob are not sweet. They are. But those two boys are rowdy and unpredictable. When my boys are playing and biting me, if I act like it is hurting a lot by crying 'oh stop it, that so hurts', all of them will bite softer. Then they will look at me as if asking 'There. Is that better?' Sweet kitten boys. I do love them so.

Nigel Exploits My Weaknesses

Have you ever noticed that the very thing you love about a person/thing is often the very thing that causes strife? One of the reasons I love my kittys so much is because they are very smart. They intensely yet casually observe me searching for my weak spots planning to self-servingly exploit those same weak spots later.

Nigel has learned that I have 'a thing' for books. He knows that it gets my attention if he pilfers with a book and many books come through here. He particularly learned this one night when I had borrowed a book from a friend and he started pilfering with it. Every time he would start rattling the pages, I would tell him to stop. After all, I did wish to give it back to her in the same condition she loaned it. Later when I was asleep, he would wake me rattling the pages so I had to get up and put the book somewhere he could not reach. He put 2 + 2 together to establish the fact that if he messed with a book that I would get up. If I got up, I might feed him. He was wrong about that fact but it has not deterred him. He knows I definitely will not feed him if I am asleep and there is still 'hope' that I might when awake.

Pilfering has turned into destruction. I try to keep everything I really value in a safe location away from little teeth. Still, he is resourceful. I was keeping this church bulletin from when I was confirmed. I leave it out now because he has fairly torn it to shreds. I do not wish to give him new fodder to tear to shreds. Go for it Nigel! What he does not know is I have another one. Then, there are the magazines. Usually, those are not extremely important to me except magazines are pricey these days. I would still like for them to be readable when I need them.

See what I mean about the very attribute you love becoming a thorn? It is not a great thorn just a little annoying 'sticker'. I cannot complain too much about it though since I ask for it none the less.

He jumps, he dives, he jumps!

Just in case anyone is wondering, I still love baby.

You came from Heaven shining


Breath of God still fresh on you

The beating heart inside me

Crumbled at this one so new

No matter where, how far you wander


For a thousand years or longer

I will always be there for you

Right here with you

~From "Amazing" by Chris Janz

Meet Iron Man!

Do you like Robert Downey Jr? I love him. I am so happy that he seems to have conquered his demons. I mention R.D. Jr. because we have a new cat in the house, Iron Man.

Jacob Blackandwhite, meet Iron Man. Iron Man, meet Jacob Blackandwhite.



Nigel's first response to Iron Man. He knows that cat is a bad #ss! Made out of solid cast iron! Maybe if he puffs himself up really big, it will frighten Iron Man.

Remember When?

Remember when my Little Jacob was trying to insinuate himself inside my house? He was so sweet then.

Okay, now he has completely insinuated himself. He no longer has to try at anything. He is the chief cook and bottle washer. This is his little bucket that used to fit him perfectly. He still tries to cram himself into it while I am getting ready for work. The purring he does while he is in this bucket is hysterically funny. He can no longer fit his legs in with him but he does not mind.

He is so sweet now.

Yes, It's A Beautiful Day To Live On the Edge

My little blog here is slowly dying. It may have reached the end of its normal life span. At any rate, I used to try to save stuff for separate days but now I will just clump stuff together for a post  when I can. Today, is a beautiful day. It is the first day in eons that it is not hotter than a frying pan. I love it! Segue into next section here...

Remember way back when I would post my cats theme songs? We (my household) all have them. I honestly did not have to rack my brain for Jacob's theme. From the first moment I ever saw him, I knew what it was. I have been doing housework to this song for almost 20 years now because it just gets me moving. Jacob moves all of the time and he loves to live on the edge (apparently, close enough to the edge that he falls and breaks a toe.) I had this song on last night while I was vacuuming and sure enough Jake loved it. He was running around like a banshee jumping, climbing, rolling, diving. Plus, the part where it says "Something wrong with our eyes" fits him, except I substitute the words "Something is wrong with his eye" when it gets to that part. Do you like to do your housework to music? I love it. It makes housework fun. Music makes most everything fun.

Jacob's Broken Toe

Have you ever seen a cat with a broken toe? What does a broken cat toe look like you might be wondering? It looks just like that.

Have I mentioned that Jake is accident prone? Well, he is. I do not know how he broke his toe. I probably do not WANT to know. He did it while I was at work. A couple of weeks ago there was an incident with the cuckoo clock. He was playing with the chains and connected them to an electrical plug. Fire blew out about 10 feet and the plugs and lights on one wall blew out. Fortunately, baby was unharmed. I was terrified because I thought he was probably dead. I have tried to kitty proof everything but obviously I cannot protect him from everything. Needless to say, the cuckoo clock is up in a closet now. I can only do my best but sometimes that is just not enough.

Kitty Aardvark

Look at this funny little picture I took of JakeBoo. It was all set up to be a cute picture until he shoved my hand. He looks just like an aardvark.