A really cool box arrived by UPS yesterday, full of new dinnerware. It took nanoseconds for Andy to claim the box as “his”, well before I finished opening it! You know cats…!
[NOTE TO UPS: Since you delivered this to my neighbor’s house, perhaps 100 feet away, an 81-year-old man finished delivering this very heavy box to me. Catch that: an 81-year-old man! I was home and my front door was open.]
In this season of giving thanks, counting one’s blessings, I have to add two to the long list: Purdytail and Fluffybutt. You know them by different names…!
They came to me when I was grieving the loss of Louie the ginger cat, and they added just the right element of fun back into my life. I mean, who can resist the charms of kittens?
Purdytail (AKA Andy) and Fluffybutt (AKA Dougy)
I don’t usually use their nicknames. Andy is so serious a little cat he just doesn’t seem like the nickname sort, even though his nickname features his handsome tail.
His brother Dougy, however, is a full-fledged character, and the name Dougy seems to capture that sense of him.
By any name, though, Andy and Dougy are a joy in my life, the best reason ever to get up in the morning, if only to see what they destroyed with their claws in the night. 😉
Just when I didn’t have any idea on what to do for my next post, I received the latest new photos of Molly. Whew! Thanks, sis!
I’m always happy to hear from my siblings, but especially from my sister in Seattle when she attaches photos of her new cat, Molly Moon, a beautiful long-haired tuxedo.
Molly is a rescue cat, one of those thousands of cats that end up in shelters to await their fate. Thankfully, this sweet cat ended up in a “no kill” shelter, and thankfully, she was available when my sister wanted an older cat. Molly fit the bill!
Remember this early photo of Molly, taken shortly after she joined the family? So much for fears she might not adjust to her new setting!
I had to repeat that photo because you get to see just how pretty Molly’s “undercarriage” is! She is a classic tuxedo cat, too, with the white whiskers, socks, chest, and facial markings.
One of the new Molly photos…. She looks like she’s just about to give my sister “blinky eyes”!
As for adjustment, figuring out the ropes, getting along, figuring out where things are, Molly has done well, too. My sister did a good job of researching potential kitties to adopt.
Molly isn’t the new cat to the family now, but she still has her surprises. Cats are like that! The other day, my sister couldn’t find Molly.
Stuffed toys on top of the armoire….
My sister isn’t sure how Molly got on top of the armoire, but there she is, right next to the tuxedo kitty, of course! On this Thanksgiving Day, it is safe to say my sister is thankful she found Molly at one of the “no kill” shelters in Seattle.
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Andy, Dougy, and I wish you a bountiful and blessed Thanksgiving holiday!
Of the two brothers, Dougy is the more clingy, the more likely to be hanging out with me. Andy has his issues, of course (those kitty baths, medicine drops), but Dougy had similar experiences growing up (kitty baths, eye drops). It comes down to personalities!
On my computer desk, in his classic sprawl…!
He has other favorite spots.
He can watch birds from the top of the mini-stereo. (And me…!)
Andy’s favorite spot is also one of Dougy’s. In fact, every cat I’ve ever had loved to lounge on top of this recliner or on its arms. It was made for cats!
The soft, cushiony recliner is perfectly sized for the boys, and it is among the higher spots in the room, a bonus benefit!
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Bonus photo of Captain Me-ow (AKA Louie), who is mentioned in one of the comments below.
If Dougy likes to stop by to be social, Andy usually stops by for another purpose. I never know until he settles down which it will be: social or kitty business.
Great! Looks like someone’s going to come for a visit!
Andy made up his mind, though…
Looks like he might be more interested in the birds…
He still might stop for a little visit, though. Maybe…! What’s it gonna be, Andy? The guy who loves and feeds you…or..”The Birds”?!
I should have guessed! Birds trump people every day!
That’s it, folks. Andy has his priorities.
One of the things I love about Dougy is he likes to stop by for a little visit when I’m on the computer.
“Hello!”
It gives me a break from staring at the screen, and Dougy gets his ears “scritched” and a little loving.
“Whatcha doin”?”
Just enjoying my kittycat is all, Dougy! Just enjoying my kittycat!
One thing is certain: Andy and Dougy always are awake and waiting for me when I wake up in the morning. Rather, when I wake up in the morning, it is because they are there. They watch and wait for me.
I caught Dougy with a flash, but he had time to react before it went off. Namely, he ducked his head. I don’t know if the photo’s half-focused or my eyeballs are at that hour. It seems it was both for this shot.
Andy, however, blocked the bedroom door. I don’t know if the cat toy is to amuse himself with till I move or what, but I can count on it showing up where I step on the hard plastic handle in the dark every morning.
Yeah, and he helped himself to a used Puff from the trash, too. Yuck! At least he didn’t knock the trash over like he usually does.
I have to get up at some point. Usually both boys run ahead of me, hoping I’ll turn left (to feed them), though I usually turn right (because I’m an old guy and need to use the toilet and the bathroom’s to the right).
I know, Dougy, why don’t you run in front of me and make sure I almost don’t make it to the toilet in time? OK!? Good boy!
These “in the dark flash photos” do result in odd effects when the flash isn’t fully built up again! I like the blue tint on the ends of Dougy’s hair in the photo above! Maybe I’ll have his groomer tint his tips blue next time…. Or not.
Eventually, though, the boys got fed, then retired to the dark where a full flash revealed Andy cleaning up.
Dougy and Andy are taking naps now, so I need to be quiet. Shhh!
Andy and Dougy generally pop around at the same time for breakfast. Today, Dougy didn’t come around when Andy did, and Andy made sure to eat all the wet cat food I prepared for both kitties. Hey! It’s cold outside and a kitty needs to lay down some fat, especially a skinny kitty like Andy!
Oh well. After I fed Andy, I washed dishes. Andy parked himself by the front door. When I finished the dishes, I walked toward the dining room, hoping not to alarm Andy when I walked by.
You see, I know if I take my cane and point it at Andy, he won’t bolt, but if I just walk up to him and reach, he does. My cane was by a chair beyond the door. I picked up my cane, pointed it at Andy, and I had me a cat to dose with medicine!
Andy knows he’s about to get medicated…! In the background, the plate with what’s left of the food Andy ate that was meant for both Andy and Dougy….
Poor kitty! He was a good boy, though, and we got through the process without me having to wrap him in the towel to restrain him a bit. Yeah, I told him he was a good boy, “scritched” his ears, and rubbed his nose after he got his medicine down. Then I put out his kitty treats. He didn’t stop to eat any, though. Why would he? He’d just eaten two servings of wet food minutes before! He ran into my bedroom instead, and hid under the bed.
Poor Dougy! Andy ate all of the wet food before Dougy came out of the guest bedroom to join us for the day!
Oh, before you leave me naughty notes about starving poor “Chubby-butt”, erm, Dougy, let me reassure you I opened another can of trout/salmon wet food, and made sure Dougy got his breakfast, too! As a practical matter — there is dry food out if the boys want it — I had to because Dougy needs a probiotic to help him with an autoimmune issue. I put the probiotic in the boys’ wet food, all of which Andy ate earlier, eh?!
It wasn’t the smoothest start to the day, but everyone is cool now. The boys wandered off to take post-breakfast naps. I’m thinking about stopping by the Crazy Lady Bakery to buy some breakfast rolls to have with my coffee. Then, the rest of the day will happen however it unfolds. We plan to do as little as possible today!
By one vote in the US Senate yesterday, the Keystone XL pipeline bill failed to pass. I don’t kid myself. Of the three ways of transporting this sludge across the Sandhills — truck, railroad, or pipeline — the pipeline is the “safest”.
The people charged with representing Nebraska’s interests in the US House of Representatives and the US Senate support the pipeline and voted for it. The current Governor of Nebraska and the Unicameral, ostensibly “nonpartisan”, but actually very Republican, support it.
The ones who don’t want it are the ones who live where this pipeline threatens to take productive pasture out of use and poses a threat of spills to damage the Ogallala Aquifer, that vast underground lake of water thickest under most of the state of Nebraska.
Western Hemisphere’s largest area of stabilized sand dunes, a great ranching country.
NIMBYU: “Not In My Backyard”. Cattle country. Proud, hard-working conservative people with an almost religious connection to the land live there. Cowboys, if you will. Ranchers. People who put three Representatives and two Senators in Congress to vote for a pipeline they can’t imagine spoiling their paradise.
For the time being, the pipeline is a pipedream, but this November Nebraskans repeated their standard practice of putting the same old people back in Congress, with one exception for the fellow representing the 2nd District. He misspoke and pissed some people off. Amazing, but that district is largely in the urban east. Four conservative Republicans and one Democrat will represent the state in the next Congress.
What about the 3rd Congressional District, the largely rural, agricultural part of the state, the part where the Sandhills are? Yes, by a wide margin– 75.39% to his opponent’s 24.61% of votes cast — Representative Adrian Smith won re-election. NIMBY. People vote by habit, not by any rational process I can discern. People don’t want the pipeline to spoil the Sandhills and the aquifer, which are the source of their income, but they put characters like Smith back in Congress.
Those bumps beyond the field of corn are the start of the Nebraska Sandhills, east of Alliance. The Ogallala Aquifer provides irrigation water that makes growing corn possible in what was once characterized as “The Great American Desert”
As much as I hate to take this attitude, because I definitely don’t support the pipeline or the transport of this sludge across the Ogallala Aquifer states, but the people of the states and places most affected by this pipeline vote scarlet red Republican: They put the people who support this travesty in the seats of power, and they and their progeny will reap the whirlwind.
I’m almost two-thirds of a century old, so will be dead soon enough. Though it is in remission, I have a disease that has the potential to kill me well before the 90+ years that both parents lived. I chose not to have children, so none of my own are threatened. As far as I’m, concerned, I can no longer respect nor be concerned about the fate of the people of the Sandhills because they largely haven’t the sense to support politicians who respect their way of life and the land on which they live and work.
Besides, any spill plumes will spread east toward Lincoln, NIMBY.
The boys start in begging way before time for meals. I think their stomachs are on 4 hour days or something like that! Today was no different from every other day.
Dougy waited near the refrigerator.
I got the mail first, so Andy had to check outside for supper…birds?
“Come on! Feed me!”
Andy waited impatiently near the place I feed them.
The boys eat a hearty fish dinner, then run off to lick their chops and clean their whiskers.