Post 1308: the rain in Spain falls mainly on the plains…

…but my friend Deborah shows the snow in Maine is clearly on the blow. Look at this drift outside Deborah’s window!

And poor Charles the kitty and his brother André have to deal with a boring window where few birds and the neighborhood squirrel can deal with this hill of snow. Since it’s not that easy to see Charles, I’ve highlighted where he’s watching birds in this photo…. (You have to look closely!)

I don’t know about you, but I won’t complain about the piddly snow we had here in Western Nebraska a bit back when I see what Deborah’s dealing with now.

Post 1307: Dougy love, love, loves to be brushed!

Dougy loves to be brushed, though he has a quirk: After I briefly brush his right side and tail, he rolls over on his right side so I can brush his left side forever or however long I can stand doing it. He never gets tired of the left side brushing!

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It’s a good time for the both of us. Andy, on the other hand, doesn’t like to be brushed.

Post 1306: misplaced things…

Yesterday was a day to “find” misplaced things, you know, right in plain view but forgotten things!

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Dougy was pleased I “found” his tub under the TV stand. I need to clean up some other things he likes that are still there.

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I was pleased I found this old photo of me hand feeding a pine siskin. I took it sometime back in the 1980s on a bitterly cold February day (-14°F / -26°C). Yes, I remember that temperature! Curiously, yesterday, another February day years later, it got up to 63°F / 17°C!

I learned how to hand feed birds by watching Woody the grey tabby cat, my neighbors kitty, stalk birds at the feeders. You stop a safe distance away from the birds, wait without moving. Then you move forward a step or two and wait without moving till the spooked birds return. You repeat this till you are right up on the birds on the feeder.

(Keep in mind, my hand was filled with shelled sunflower seeds, and was extended just like in the photo. The camera is in the other hand, pre-focused, at the right aperture, and ready to shoot.)

Once the birds are comfortable you are just a strange harmless feeder, they hop onto your hand and defend the seeds from each other. I’ve had up to five pine siskins on my hand at a time, with another hanging on the frame of my glasses, and another perched on my head. It’s hard not to laugh!

My thumb is approximately the same size as a pine siskin. I’ve wiggled it at a pine siskin and the bird attacked it, extending its wings to expose the yellow stripe and under wing feathers and making squawky sounds to drive off the interloper! Quite brave!

Post 1305: interactive kitty…

Andy believes in getting right into this video business. Never know, you know, if you might luck out and catch that dang birdy on the screen!

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Too much stimulation! Andy pounces!

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Post 1304: Something’s missing here!

Andy and Dougy don’t ask for much, and they give a lot back. BUT, they do expect some things on demand!

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Dougy hinted broadly what he wanted. “Mrow…. Mrow….”

Gotcha, Douglas! You need a morning “scritch”! img_20170214_033006

Andy, on the other hand, was in no mood for a good “scritching”.

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He turned his back on me. I barely could reach him, then he ran away!

Post 1303: Andy sleeps…

I find sleeping kitties fascinating. Good thing, too, since that’s a major kitty activity!

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It all started when Andy was a kitten. Awww! He was such a cutie! I hadn’t watched the first video in years. The others I’ve posted before, but enjoy revisiting. I hope you enjoy them, too!

A question for you. The videos end with a selection of related videos (mostly) you can watch by clicking on the preview photo of interest. I have no issues with this preview business because many times they are my videos or ones that I find interesting posted on YouTube by other people.

On the other hand, Chris, my Texas friend who posts the interesting eclectic contrafactual blog about technology and other things I find fascinating, recently showed me how to turn those off. Which do you prefer? With or without the photo links?

Post 1302: …and there is that one spot!

Andy has one spot that I love to scratch. He arches his back and wraps his tail around my arm and hand to let me know when I’ve located it!

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Oh, yeah! That’s the spot! Before a moment passes, Andy will pet my hand and arm with his tail, and his cute little butt will point up in the air! My job is done.

Post 1301: Dougy loves his ottoman for naps.

You can’t mistake Dougy’s enthusiasm for his ottoman or that it makes a kitty sized sleep lounger, a cat’s favorite place once he’s eaten and played.

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Post 1300: Thanks from my sister…

My sister appreciates the thoughtful comments you’ve sent on the passing of her cat Sox. She writes:

Thank you for the blog about Sox and thank your readers for their kind words of comfort. Shannon [her daughter] said it must have been a tough decision to get Sox euthanized. I told her that it was not, because he had been failing rapidly since Sunday and it was the best thing I could do for him. I told her the tough part was taking him to the veterinarian, knowing that I would never see him again. I am keeping his ashes, so he will always be with me and never forgotten.

…I wonder when the tears will ever stop. I know you and many people have experienced the loss of a loved pet, but in the moment, one feels all alone. Last night, when we went to bed, Molly kept looking at the spot where Sox always slept…at the foot of the bed, and she at the head. The day before Sox died, Molly laid on the loveseat with him, which was unusual. I have a picture of them…. She may be feeling his loss more than I realize.

Molly and Sox, his last day.

Post 1299: On the passing of my sister’s cat, Sox…

I read the sad news this morning. My sister, Kathy, had to make a decision about her tuxedo kitty, Sox, yesterday. He had a cancerous tumor on a front paw. She wrote:

I did have to have Sox euthanized today. It was so hard to do, but Kitty Boy was miserable and so sad to watch. It took me until 3:30 this afternoon to finally let him go.

The Dr. said he most likely had a stroke, perhaps caused by the cancer moving to his brain. It’s going to take a long time to get over his death. Molly was so sweet.

She laid on top of me and put her paw and head on my hand. She knew something wasn’t right.

Sox in his prime.

My sister “inherited” Sox as a kitten when her grandchildren got him from one of my sister’s neighbors, but were unable to keep him. Like me, she wasn’t a cat person till she got one. We always had dogs when we were little, then no pets till we were older and closer to retirement or retired. Sox was her first kitty.

Sox was an only kitty most of his life. Then my sister had to move. The first day she moved into her new home, she let Sox out to do kitty business, as was their habit from their old home.

That was the last time she saw him for 10 months, a story that I documented here as encouragement to others who lost their kitties. My sister never gave up, and she finally located poor Sox in a shelter!

Molly Moon looks like a sweetheart to me, and my sister says she is a sweet-dispositioned kitty, too.

When Sox disappeared, my sister eventually adopted Molly Moon, who was a bit older than Sox, but is a tuxedo kitty, too.

When Sox returned home, he no longer was the only kitty, and it made adjustment necessary. Molly and Sox eventually became friends and shared my sister without hassles. (Molly, of course, was the top kitty in the home since Sox hadn’t been home to defend his “title” during his absence.)

My sister told me about the tumor and what she had to deal with some time ago, but one hopes against hope for a happy outcome. I didn’t mention it here though anyone who’s followed this blog for any length of time knows the story of Sox and how he was lost then came home.

That story was the “happily ever after” part. Today’s news is the blunt, sad reality. Anyone with kitties, dogs, any creature in their lives knows the joys and laughter they bring, yet always has that other reality at the back of their thoughts: The joy inevitably is followed by the sad reality that those beloved pets are mortal.

Poor Sox. I’ve shed tears for you today. Kathy, I know that you did what was best for Sox, no matter how sad and difficult the task was for you. Hugs and love, sis.

RIP, Sox the tuxedo kitty. Thank you for the joy you brought into my sister’s life.