17Apr24: Andy’s intrusion.

I noticed Andy snooping on me.

He slowly moved up on me!

This is serious! Andy’s taking over!

Dang! Once Andy fell asleep with his foot on my laptop, I knew I had to let him sleep. That’s to say, I’m stuck here till he’s awake again! I mean, isn’t he too cute?

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Fortunately for me, Andy woke up shortly after I took the last photo. Maybe this position turned out to be less comfortable than Andy thought it would be.

In other Andy news, he hasn’t spent time lately in the television stand cubbyhole. He has, however, begun to spend a lot of time in the guest bedroom. I suspect the television stand cubbyhole thing was because there was company here and they stayed in the guest bedroom, of course.

11Feb24: A Kitty Stink Eye…

I wanted to take some blog photos of Andy. He came by and I thought, “Here’s a chance!”

He was on his way to important kitty business…

…earning me a “Kitty Stink Eye”!

08Feb24: Andy’s exciting day!

Curious“, Andy thinks, “the viewing platform was here earlier.

He hears a car on the lane….

“What!? What!? What!?”

Andy runs to a safe viewing spot when “Auntie Gail” brings the oxygen delivery for Doug.

Gail announces her arrival. Doug greets her and invites her in.

Here’s what Andy’s doing when Gail comes in. Gail and Andy have known each other since he and his late brother, Dougy, were wee kittens. Gail worked at the animal center then. They are old friends!

“Auntie Gail” encourages Andy to come to her.

Silly kitty! He knows who she is but is shy.

There! Gail gets to “boop!” Andy’s nose…

…then he runs as fast as he can by her side!

Andy! Andy! Andy! He ran past “Auntie Gail”, then switched tail and ran back into hiding.

After Gail left the oxygen supplies and had a little kitty time, Doug decided it was time for an afternoon peanut butter and cracker snack. That coffee will be good, too.

Doug’s in the kitchen. That’s Andy’s cue that it’s time to check the kitchen cabinets for “mousies”! (This is the fourth time today, plus the one time in the north bathroom. Andy is giddy with his good fortune to have a door opener in Doug, though he is fully capable of opening a cabinet with his kitty door-opening prowess!)

No “mousies”! (Doug let Andy know that he still is a wonderful kitty, a real asset to the apartment, a very good kitty boy! Andy knows he is, and he purrs away happily.) 

There we go! This is why Andy was at the front door in the first place, but the viewing platform had been moved. Now it’s back in place. With everything in the order he likes it, Andy’s having a great day!

31Jan31: last day to catch a snooze in January….

Getting sleepy! 

Trying different positions to get comfortable.

Zzzzz!

Yes, the first position turned out to be the best.

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Catsandcoffee, here’s a better look at the red thing that looks like a tongue in today’s kitty photos. Andy hangs over the side when he rests on the end table. I pushed this seat cushion and the lapboard together in this way to give him a little place to rest his paws and head on this side. He hangs over the side on his tail end.

15Jan24: It’s Andy’s recliner, now!

The late Dougy claimed absolute control over the recliner seat.

On a good day, Dougy tolerated Andy resting on the recliner arm.

So, it was a surprise to me that Andy spent most of the morning lounging in what remained Dougy’s spot for years after Dougy died.  

07Oct23: Busy! Busy! Busy!

Andy prepares for a light nap.

He grounds himself.

~ Zzzz! ~

Searching for something….

Andy’s standing over them!

Silly cat! There the Greenies are.

~ Nom! Nom! ~

Now what, Andrew?

This requires a bit of meditation.

“I’ll knead on the pillow on Doug’s lap and he’ll think I’ll hop on his lap next.”

~ Knead! Knead! ~

“No way, dude! No way!”

That Andy! I could’ve guessed he was pulling my leg!

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A Facebook memory of the late Dougy in October 2019…..

22Aug23: “…two days before they turned 8.”

Andy two days before they turned 8.

The late Dougy two days before they turned 8.

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I saw a suggestion photo at the bottom of a post. It took me back four years ago, a year I had hospitalization for a ruptured pseudoaneurysm in my dialysis fistula and a hospital stay to create a new one on the opposite arm. For the fun of it, I scrolled through other posts around that time and came onto these two photos of the kitty brothers, Andy and Dougy. 

 

05Aug23 “Not here!”

Andy likes to be left alone here.

I see him there and I want to “luv” him!

Anywhere else he likes me to massage his shoulder muscles.

Ick! But not here!

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This is close-up of the cover of a folding mirror shown on “Antiques Road Trip”. The voice over called attention to the putto on the upper right of the cover, but the closed caption wrote it is a “pooto”. Sometime the closed captions are a hoot! For those who didn’t grow up as a naughty-mouthed little boy – I know most of you fit that category or you wouldn’t follow a kitty blog!  – a “putto” is Italian for that cherubim in the upper right hand of the photo; a “pooto” (or “poot” more correctly) is a wee fart! 

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Growing up in the 1950’s, my friend Terry and I were curious about what appeared to be the rim of a huge bathtub growing out of a neighbor’s vacant lot. My late mother, a life-long swimmer and Red Cross swimming instructor, once told us she swam in that pool as a young woman and that she suffered a bloody noggin driving into it and hitting the bottom. Other than that small detail, we never knew more about it until Terry found this information in an item in the newspaper.

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“The present pool” mentioned above was one now used as the Sallows Military Museum, which also includes the least cold tolerant species of the Sallows Conservatory & Arboretum, which is part of the Nebraska Statewide Arboretum.

A replacement city pool now is the site of a tennis court north of the high school and a new pool across from Laing Park replaced that.

The bath house for Big Blue, the newest pool, is named for my mother, Jean R.A. McKenzie Thomas, in recognition of her 60 years of teaching area children and adults to swim. Actually, the only reason to give this little bit of local history in excruciating detail is to recognize that incredible accomplishment of my mother, of whom I am very proud, who spanned the complete history of swimming pools in Alliance.

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Watching “The Third Man” some time ago, another closed caption made me laugh! Here’s what I wrote in the review in this blog at the time:

Andy moved just in time for me to catch a caption error – or was it a caption writer’s joke or way of adding suspense for the caption reading audience?? – where German is translated into… German! Fortunately for me, with my considerably crappy 1st Year College German for help, “passiert” happens to be in the classic line in my Conversational German book’s second lesson: “Wenn es regnet, passiert des meistens”. (“When it rains the most happens.”) I get it. Hee! Hee! I get it!

30May23: Coban serves as kitty amusement, too!

“What?!”

Andy does a touchup on his face first….

“Just wait, Douglas! I had a treat and can’t play till I’m spic and span!”

“Scrunchy and mouthable. I like it!”

Andy enjoys Coban after Doug takes it off his arm.

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Andy caught his second miller yesterday. He patted it till it wobbled away. Andy let it take off to behind the recline, where he followed to continue his abuse of the poor insect. He doesn’t eat them, just beats them to a frazzle. Good kitty!

19May 23: Andy is a cat after all!

Andy just likes to be “kool”! He’s a cat after all.

Part of being “kool”…

…is ignoring…

…a challenge…

NOT to be “kool”!

RAWR!

Oh well. He’s a cat after all!

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The television service at the hospital was messed up yesterday. Dialysis without the television is a challenge to one’s patience if one isn’t prepared with alternatives – a book, a smartphone with a good charge, being tired enough to nap for four long hours. I took the latter since I didn’t have any of the former.

It was a good practice for Sunday. The city is doing maintenance of some sort on the electrical grid and there won’t be any electricity citywide from 1 pm till 9 pm. It might be a good day to take a trip to Rushville to check out the Twisted Turtle, a pizza bar that gets good reviews from Alliance people who’ve been there.

Rushville is an hour away. Leave Alliance at 1 pm, arrive in Rushville in time for the pizza bar to open at 2 pm, order pizza and a drink, enjoy pizza, pay bill, leave Rushville for Alliance at…? After a pizza, arrive back in Alliance, take a long nap till the lights come back on.

It might work!