Day One Hundred Sixty

Cats - Gotta Love 'Em

Dash just came over to me as I'm sitting at the computer; reached up, tapped me on the arm and "mauhed" at me. He wants something and knows I am the only one who can help him achieve his goal. I am the one with the opposable thumbs, you see, so I can do things nobody else can. Like unlock the cat door - or the back door. Now, Eli and Jack can open a shut door, just not a locked one - yet. Since I am not budging from this chair, he'll have to find some other way to amuse himself. I fear a crash is forthcoming.

I think he found something the under couch. Lord only knows what is under there - could be animal, vegetable or mineral. Since he's the only feline who can squeeze under there, I'm guessing it's a dust bunny or a bug.

When the stalking of the dust bunny ended, he went on to harass his brothers. Dash and Finn really like going outside, so they joined forces in pestering me to let them out. Since I am trying to ignore them, Dash turned his pesting-skills toward Finn. Poor Finn had to endure his tail being attacked until Dash got bored with that game.

Hey - Oww! That hurts!

When all else fails, appeal to Mom's sympathies. Turn on the charm - or whine - whichever gets you what you want.

Mommy! Look at me!
Pleeze! Let us out!!

I'll give you a kiss if you open the door.

I am a jungle cat who should be
out there stalking my prey!

Well, he did it now. He pissed off the mayor aka Eli. Whatever Dash did to rile Eli got him chased around the house. Eli can't catch him so I'm not concerned. There is a lot of "trilling" going on, though. They trill and warble to each other as a prelude to a smack down.

That should show him.
That woman gets on my last nerve
bringing more cats into my house....
 

When the harassment of Eli was over, Dash and Finn tried to figure out if there was a way to go out the front window. There isn't. I'm going to have to break down and let them out onto the pool deck. They remind me of kids who are deprived of recess! In this house, if one is unhappy, everybody's unhappy.

Wow! - Maybe I could go out there!

Finn - do you think there's a way out?

I don't know - let me check it out...

No. Let's just sit here looking cute.
Maybe she'll feel sorry for us.



I'll close with a picture of something that cracks me up. Whether it's an Easter Egg bowl, a box or a Halloween tub, the cats love to curl up in them. This is Chance. He uses the hole to observe the action. Cats. Gotta love 'em.

This is so cool - I can see
Jack but he can't see me!

 

 



Day One Hundred Fifty Nine

Cats v Dogs - The Battle Continues

Andy and I have our own little Dog v Cat thing going on. While I love pretty much anything in the animal kingdom, he has a definite preference for dogs. Our dogs. Rooney. Oh, he loves Jack. It's just that Rooney is to Andy what Fancy is to me.

 

Rooney will push Andy's hand away if he is petting Jack. She never gets aggressive - more like passive aggressive. Also, Rooney has perfected "the stare." By boring a hole through you with her eyes, she can get you to do pretty much anything. Using it on her Dad gets her extra treats, more couch time, kisses, etc. There is one more thing we can now add to that list: on the bed time.

The Stare

While I was sleeping (translation: being tortured by cats) in the front bedroom, apparently Dad was letting Rooney join him on the bed. This is the same guy who doesn't want cats in that room at all. I discovered this when I couldn't find Rooney and looked in the bedroom for her. There she was, like a queen, sprawled out on the bed. Now, Jack cannot jump up there. Even if he could, their combined weight of over 300 pounds would surely collapse the bed.



I am tucked way up in the corner...

This has created a whole new problem. I was putting Jack and Rooney in there when I left the house. I was confident Rooney would stay on her own bed. The first thing Rooney does now is to jump up on to our bed. She never used to even think of doing that. Grrrr  There is no point in my telling her she can't. Once a Bullmastiff does something they like, nothing can reverse it.

The other problem is, Bullmastiff are messy. She doesn't drool as much as Jack, but she manages to make a mess nonetheless. I either need to add another cover on top of ours, or plan on washing the blankets every time I leave the house.

I cannot think of one thing about the cats that inconveniences Andy. Unless you consider walking on the countertops, getting into your food while you're preparing something on the countertop, litter boxes, cat hair in your food and - well - everywhere, unusual sounds such as those made when something comes crashing down onto the tile and their knack for slipping through his legs onto the porch at night when he lets the dogs out. That's about it. I just don't see what all the fuss is about...

Day One Hundred Fifty Eight

We're All Still Here

The Blood Moon made for quite a sight, if one lived in a non-rainy place. All I could see was a milky sky. It was a special one for at least two reasons.

 

First, this moon was a supermoon. It happened to be at perigee, the spot in its orbit that brings it closest to the Earth. And that made it look particularly large in the sky.

 

 

Second, this lunar eclipse was the last in a series of four spanning two years, a phenomenon called a tetrad. Those can happen a couple of times in a century, or they can make themselves very rare, skipping over a few centuries.

 
Some people were claiming it was an omen; even predicting the Apocalypse. I wonder how those folks manage to get through life, scared all the time. And I really wonder about people who think they can predict events using the Bible as their source. Do they even read it, or just shake it like a Magic Eight Ball and make up the answers? Cause if they did bother to read it they would see no one knows when the "end" will come. Therefore, we're supposed to treat each day like it could be the last. And that's the end of my sermon.

Dear Magic Eight Ball,
How many people can I fool
with my "end of the world" story?

I think the moon set the tone for Halloween! I love this time of year! The downside to living in the Tropics is there are no changing leaves to admire. The upside is, the weather is usually perfect for lots of kids to go Trick-Or-Treating! My husband always reminds me, when he's putting up Christmas decorations, he used to have to do that in a blizzard when we lived in PA.

This is about the extent of decorating
when there's a blizzard!

We had our first Halloween "customer" yesterday. Customer as in, little kid who stopped to look at the decorations. We were replacing the light bulbs in the witch (a one person job, but I only had the use of one good arm) and a little girl who was riding her tricycle down the street, stopped to stare at the big cat. She also informed us the witch was down. Her baby brother, in his stroller, seemed to enjoy the sight, too. Their parents said this was their third Halloween in the neighborhood, and they like to see what we set up each year. Mission accomplished. I had such fun when I was a kid going Trick-Or-Treating. Kids remember things like this and it takes just a little effort to make it special.

Dry ice, pumpkins and sound effects will
be added on the big day!



I will close this with a picture puzzle. See if you can find the hidden object:











Day One Hundred Fifty Seven

Scaredy Cat

I am typing today's entry with one hand. I cannot lift my right arm. Why? Halloween.

I've mentioned this before - I love Halloween. No, I'm not into devil worship - far from it. I'm more the ghosts and goblins and witches on brooms type of fan. I like it because it gives kids - of all ages - a chance to pretend and poke fun at all things scary.  At our house, on Trick or Treat night, if you're wearing a costume - no matter how old you are - you will get a smile and a handful of candy - two if my husband answers the door!

So, the Grands were here this weekend and I declared it was time to get out the Halloween decorations.  After decades of collecting items for all holidays and seasons, then forgetting where I put them after a year goes by, I went to color coded storage. Of course, Halloween items are in orange and black bins; Thanksgiving in plain orange; Christmas in red and green, etc. It makes life easier for this forgetful old woman. My Grands and I went on the search for all things orange and black.

The one thing I didn't factor in - I am old and out of shape and get hurt easily. For example, I was standing on the hearth, relocating an item from one shelf to a higher one and, as I was reaching up, my left foot slipped off the hearth, sending shooting pains up my back. I'm pretty sure I messed up my arm by trying to lift things that weigh more than two pounds. There was a time when I could move the piano from one room to the next. Those days are long gone.

The next challenge came in the form of - Dash. My granddaughter pointed out there would be a lot of breakage if we put certain items within paw range of our little gremlin. Her solution - putting breakables waaay up high  - we're taking practically ceiling height. We were also expecting him to get into everything as we were decorating. Our grandson was busy popping all of the packing material (note to self: buy more before Nov. 1) but Dash was nowhere in sight.

The only spot higher is the ceiling...

I know most of the hiding places for all of the cats, so we started checking in those places. No Dash. The front door was still latched, so I ruled out escape. He wasn't on the pool deck either. Pap kept telling us he was in the front bedroom, but we couldn't find him in there. While my imagination goes to "escape" my granddaughter's goes straight to "death." I know. She kept saying, "What if he's dead?" I finally stopped in my tracks and asked her what he could possibly be dead from? (Grammar Nazis - let it go...) Her answer, "Well, I don't know, but if he didn't escape what else could have happened?"  Her middle name is Wednesday. Need I say more?

We eventually found him, exactly where Pap said he was - in the front bedroom, hiding under the bed. He was clearly afraid of something, but we couldn't connect the dots and we couldn't get him to come out. My granddaughter even tried the ice maker which always brings him running. Nothing.

Later that day, well into the evening, he finally ventured into the family room, slinking as low as possible along the floor. It was now evident - poor little Dash had met his match - scary Halloween decorations - 

This scary ghost about gave
Dash a heart attack!

Then there are the things that glow!

 

When we finished inside, after Gigi took a coffee break and popped some Ibuprofen, we moved to the outside. I love all things simple and easy. That's why I have air blown decorations. You know, the kind you plug in and a fan does all the work. Last year I found a huge black cat that forms an archway in front of the entry. There's also an eight foot tall witch. While our grandson, who had found a wooden flute, walked around playing the same three notes over and over and supervised, L and I put up the cat and witch. She and Pap decorated the bushes with orange lights and voila -
Halloween 2015!

Day One Hundred Fifty Six

Heart Eggs

While I'm fairly certain our grandson will be a tech giant someday, granddaughter, L, is destined to be a veterinarian. She is a natural. And she has already proven her skills at being a diagnostician. Well, she's observant. The last time she was here, she pointed out Eli had a big patch of hair missing. Her diagnosis: stress licking.  During this visit, she was checking on Roxy and noticed her fur is clumping. Her diagnosis: She and Pap think it's shedding in preparation for Winter. It will take a trip to an actual vet to verify her diagnoses, but I think she's probably accurate.

One thing it does verify is I am as clueless as a door knob. I live with these animals and pretty much check on them 24/7. I completely overlooked that Eli had a big patch of fur missing. And as for Roxy, well I make sure she has food, water and treats every day. I guess I'm so focused on the feeding of these guys, I overlooked something as fundamental as the condition of their fur. Not good.

Then there's Jack and his notorious hot-spots. Those things pop up overnight and can get real nasty quickly. The key is to catch it right away, apply medicated powder and try to keep him from scratching it open. If you take your eyes off the ball for any length of time, he can do some serious damage.

With the kids here, Rooney is off kilter. Rooney likes things to be just so in her world. As when her Dad is away, the presence of two little people in the house sends her into a tizzy. The toys have come out again. They are everywhere and I've tripped over a few this morning. One of them makes a god-awful sound when stepped on - kinda like a cow giving birth - and it scares the heck out of me every time. I need to make it disappear.

I'm gonna have to cut this short. The kids are in the pool; Pap is playing lifeguard and the cats really want to go outside and see what all the excitement is about. Time for me to do my lizard reconnaissance.

Oh, one last thought - well cute story: While we were watching the latest version of Cinderella last night, one of the songs had the line, "In dreams you will lose your heartache." Our grandson turned to me and asked what "heart eggs" are. It would have been easier to explain a "heart egg" to a six year old than a "heartache." He has said a few more, I just forgot to write them down...