Gardening with Tabitha

Cats on Tuesday

Still no trout. I have not been fishing for a couple days because I have been busy getting my garden ready. Tabby has been helping, she likes rolling in the dirt and sniffing things. Every spring and summer Tabitha likes to follow me to the garden and pretend she's in a jungle.

Cheeto has found something besides her cat condo nest to sit on. She likes admiring herself in the mirror.

... Yeah, it's short this week.

So this is Spring

Not exaggerating about the enormous minnows

Opening Day for Trout Season was Saturday in Connecticut. I was going to do an opening day post Monday, but since I didn't catch any trout I could not write much without whining. All I can seem to do is catch enormous minnows and lose lures. I even tried using powerbait nuggets, normally a guarantee to catch a stocked trout early in the season, and the $&*#@( minnows ate that too!

So on to Cats on Tuesday.

Cheeto is being really sweet and adorable as usual, she does this thing where she will roll around chasing her tail. I think she's a small long-tailed polar bear.

I stacked a box full of gardening stuff on top of a laundry basket, and piled some fishing stuff (line, a telescoping rod, some bobbers, etc,) on top of he box. Of course Pout had to jump onto the box and when he jumped off he tipped over the basket and now my fishing gear is scattered all over a quarter of my room. At least there are no loose hooks to worry about. I think Cheeto enjoyed playing with one of the bobbers that I will never find again. I usually don't lose fishing gear until I get it to the water.

Nesting Cats

Cats on Tuesday

Sorry, I'm late again. I am actually hanging out with my sister's cats tonight. I will try to post some pics next week. Tawny got a haircut and is looking handsome. Miss Kitty is looking round and colorful.

My own cats have been having a good week. They got to have their own late Easter Egg hunt, if i ever get the time I will edit and upload the video of that... Maybe I will have it in time of Easter 2015. They got a lot of treats and some new catnip mice, and a cat condo.

Cheeto loves to sleep in the nest on top of hte condo, it is just the right size for her. I put it next to my desk so while I'm working on my computer she will curl up in her nest and be near me. Every now and then she'll give a chirrup so I will pet her and she will purr. The other day while she was feeling frisky and jumping around she squeezed into the middle condo and gave a chirp so I would look and see where she was. Her own fluffiness was forcing her out of the middle condo. Cheeto thought it was very funny.

One side of the condo is covered in sisal so all the cats like scratching it, but mostly ignore it. Sometimes, when Cheeto is not curled up on top, Pout will lay in the top nest for a little while but I do not think he really cares about it. He only goes in there because Cheeto spends a lot of time there and he gets jealous. He has his own nest, a plastic Christmas wreath.

Cats- Striper and Midnight

Still have been really busy. I feel guilty for not doing a tea post on Thursday (Sorry tea-drinkers following me!) I have had some really good tea lately so hopefully I'll have a good post about tea on Thursday.

Now: Cats on Tuesday!

I have been away from home so I do not have much to say about my cats, other than they have been cheating on me with my mother. Deep betrayal. So I have some photos of cats from the past.

First up is Midnight, a gorgeous black cat.

Midnight

I did have a slightly better picture of her, but there was a dead chipmunk in the foreground so I decided not to blog it. Midnight was the best hunter I have ever met. Besides chipmunks, a few birds, many rodents (countless mice and voles, a freaky looking star-nosed mole), she would bring home rabbits. Not just baby bunnies but rabbits as big as herself that she would have to walk backwards in order to drag them from the field. One time she brought home some sort of weasel I did not even know we had in Connecticut until Midnight proudly carried one home one day (I think it was a short-tailed weasel). Midnight was a medium-sized cat, if she was any bigger I think she would have brought home deer. Midnight always walked like she was in a great hurry to be somewhere important, that place was somewhere destroying wildlife.Now I do not recommend letting cats wander outdoors, especially not where I live where cars fly by not caring what is in the road. But Midnight did not die until she was well into her late teens, and then it was old age catching up to her. She was one of the rare cats that knew how to cross the road without getting run over and would never be happy as a strictly indoor cat. Midnight also enjoyed a bit of milk every day which is also bad for cats.

We were Midnight's third owners. Her first owners had moved and decided to leave their pets behind. Friends of the family lived nearby and took Midnight in, but when Midnight turned out pregnant they passed her onto us. Midnight had six kittens, 3 black and white, 3 tabbies, 2 girls (both tabbies) and the rest boys.

Striper was the runty one of the litter, but a gorgeous cat. Her pictures don't do her coat justice, she was a classic tabby with a shining silvery-brown coat. The prettiest cat I have ever had and I never found another cat with the same coloring.

Little Striper Night

Striper also spent time outside though not as much as Midnight. She was a laid back and trusting cat, I used to be able to pick her up and stretch her on her back along my arm and she would let me rub her belly.

Striper taking a dustbath in the driveway

She also did not mind getting wet. The hose did not reach all the way to the garden so we would have a bucket where the hose ended filling with water while we lugged a second bucket to the garden to water the plants. When the water started overflowing the bucket before we could get back to it Striper would bat at the overflowing water as if trying to push it back in. If we waved the hose she would chase the stream and get soaked. She was a fun cat.

Cats - Happy Easter

It's been a week already? And it's already April. Dang. Still busy with classes but at least I'm not sick anymore. I have a couple more things going on this month:

• Camp NaNowriMo is this month (and again in August). You might have noticed the link in my sidebar. It is like NaNoWriMo in November, only more flexible. You can set your own wordcount goal, I am aiming for only 35,000 words. I like to plot out novels ahead of time, but so far all I have is a vague idea that I realize is a lot like "The Bottle Imp" by Robert Louis Stevenson. No character notes, not even names. I have not written a single word yet either.
• Trout Season in Connecticut opens on the 20th. I need to put some fresh line on my favorite rod and get my stuff together. Not sure where I'll fish on opening day but I'll be fishing somewhere. Hopefully I'll catch something. 
• Need to get started on my final project for my Lit class. 
• National Library Week? Huh. Well won't that be fun. Begins on the 14th of this month.
• Get my garden started, do some planting, especially later in the month. I already planted some sugar snap peas and put down some gardening fabric. I still need to get some seedlings started. If I do any good I'll blog about it.

 Now Cats on Tuesday:

This week I am featuring my sister's cats, my other sister, not the one with the kitten. Myss Kytti is a calico (and was mortal enemies with Rivkah during the brief time they were under the same roof) and her other cat is Tawny Scrawny Lion (he's a little strange) a very long haired golden cat who sports a lion cut. They celebrated Easter with an Easter Egg Hunt. Check out the video (Those subbed by email may not get the video):

Happy cats. Makes me wish I did something for my cats on Easter. Maybe I can get some plastic Easter Eggs on clearance.

The Cats - Ive been sick

Cats on Tuesday

I've been down with a bad cold. The soothing throat charm tea did not cure me this time. I have mostly been sleeping the past couple of days.

Pout has not been the most helpful. He found some noisy toy with a bell in it and played with it under my bed. I do not recall him enjoying any bell toys while I was not sick.

Cheeto has a much better bedside manner. When I'm not feeling well Cheeto snuggles next to me, purring gently.

Rivkah as a Kitten

Cats on Tuesday

I came across some pictures of Rivkah when she was little so I decided to do a post of kitten pictures. I haven't been able to find any kitten pictures of Pout, though I must have some somewhere. When I find them I will have to do another post. (Pout was an adorable kitten, fluffy with extra whiskers)

Baby Rivkah and littermates

In case you can't tell, Riv is the one climbing out the bottom left corner. Ben-Oni is the other kitten with a ticked coat and is right behind Riv.

Playful Riv

I hope I find the negative of this photo, and that it's in better shape, sad how scratched up it had gotten.

Tabitha, Rivkah and Ben-Oni

Tabby was born about 3 weeks after Rivkah and Ben (Cheeto is Tabitha's mother, Tabby is the only kitten she ever had). Tabitha was the only kitten in her litter so she was almost as big as Riv and her littermates but not as developed mentally, did not have the same level of coordination... She got picked on a lot.

Trudy did not like wrestling and playing rough, but Cheeto loved it. So Trudy would take care of Tabitha while Cheeto played with Trudy's kittens.

Away from my poor cats

Cats on Tuesday

 

My poor cats must be feeling abandoned again. Have been away from home a lot, briefly visited with them the other day before taking off again. Little Boy Pout made the most of it:

Mommy!

Here I am!

I love you, Mommy! 

I felt terrible leaving him again. He's a very needy cat.

Don't worry, he's only rubbing,
NOT spraying

To make matter worse I've been cheating on Pout, played with my cousin's cat. A very handsome blue-grey cat, not sure of where my cousin got him but I'm pretty sure there is at least some Russian Blue there. He's a very friendly cat, very affectionate, does not play rough.

Ghost!

He would not chase the string much so I found him a matchbox car and he had a lot of fun kicking it around. Of course I didn't get any pictures of that. (And I put the string away because I did not want the cat swallowing it, besides the grossness of pooping string it can cause all sorts of problems)

The Cats are cold

 Cats on Tuesday

It is still winter and the cats are very cold, I am beginning to think their fur coats are for decoration. They cling to me all day long and make it just about impossible to get anything done. I barely got my spreadsheet assignments submitted on time. The only way I could get the cats to back off was to turn on my electric blanket and convince them to sleep on that for a while. That would work for a little while until the blanket either switched itself off or they got up to eat and decided I was closer to the food bowl than the blanket.

Even Tabitha, the least affectionate of the cats, has been getting clingy.

Cheeto on the mantle and the tall green thing to the right

The cats have been showing signs of wanting spring to hurry up and get here. Pout and Cheeto are both indoor cats (or are supposed to be) and since they can't be outside looking for fresh grass they have been getting into the houseplants. Out of hte corner of my eye  see this white thing flailing around and it's Cheeto attacking whatever this tall green thing is:

 Pout has been playing jungle cat in the spiderplant.

The Cats - A Kitten (not mine)

Cats on Tuesday

I was away from home for a couple days. Pout missed me, he hung around my mother a lot, cheating on me. But I saw other cats myself while I was away. I got to meet my nephew's kitten.

He has a cute face

I always forget how small kittens are. Such a tiny little thing. Mean too, likes to chew on my fingers. I tried to teach him how to play fetch since he was already carrying one of his favorite toys and he actually did bring the toy back to me but he might have been heading that way already.

Pout is unaware of me meeting any kittens and was happy to see me. Whenever I called him he'd come running over like a kitten who just learned his name, tail held high, "mew mew mew!" and purring loudly. He's still happy that I'm back.

Yeah, old photos but he won't let me take his picture right now.

The Cats - Cleaning my Room

The floor in my room was getting filthy, so I finally got around to cleaning it. Poor Cheeto was traumatized. Like all cats she hates vacuum cleaners, noisy things that eat dirt and secretly want to eat cats. But it's not the vacuum cleaner that really scares Cheeto. What she is really afraid of is the mop.

($140 for a mop head? really? Will anyone reading my blog pay half that for an entire mop complete with bucket, water and Mr Clean? I need to find better ads)

I'm not sure why she is so afraid of the mop, but I remember her being afraid of a rag mop as a kitten. The mop was not doing anything, it was just leaning against the wall. But Cheeto approached the mop like it was a strange dog. (Someone may have jiggled the mop handle so it moved when Cheeto got close enough to sniff it and made her jump... Cheeto is like a cartoon when she's spooked.)

Cheeto is a full grown cat so you would think she would have gotten over irrational fears but she is still afraid of the mop. She sat in the corner by the door and stared with her big yellow eyes as I ran the mop over the floor, skittering away in terror when I mopped near her. I wound up mopping my floor three times the floor was so dirty. Now that my floor is clean, dry and well polished Cheeto has ventured back into my room, making sure the mop is not hiding anywhere.




Oh, I set my sandwich aside and Tabitha is licking the bread on the floor, how much you want to bet it landed mayonnaise side down? Yeah, I feel like I accomplished nothing today now.

Anyways I've given some thought as to why Cheeto is afraid of the mop. In the cat language "Going under water" is synonymous with death. The mop head is frequently stuck in a bucket of soapy water, bobbed up and down, then rung out dripping liquid death back in the bucket, rubbed all over the floor only to repeat the death process. So to Cheeto the mop has to be something like a sadistic zombie movies, the kind I can only watch twenty minutes of before getting that sick feeling in my heart. So perhaps Cheeto's fear of the mop is not all that irrational.

 

And a picture of Pout to show that Cheeto has not taken over my blog again

Cats on Tuesday

The Cats - Birdwatching

Sorry for the delay, I know I have not posted since Thursday. I wanted to post yesterday about ice fishing but since I got skunked the only time I went since the Bullhead I could no motivate myself to write a worthwhile post about how cold it was and trying to admire the scenery and nature stuff... I've been really busy with school.

So on to Cats on Tuesday.

Cheeto has been taking over my blog even though she is technically not my cat. So today's post is all about Pout. Pout hates Cheeto and I do not know why, though her smacking his backside when Pout's guard is down has not helped.I took a quick video of Pout watching birds at the feeder. The video quality is lousy, a lot of glare from the window, and at one point you can hear my mother say something and me being snotty. But here's the video anyways, those following my blog via email might not get the video and will have to visit my blog for the video.

Pout is fun to watch. Sometimes if the birds are close to the window he will flatted his ears and duck his head so his eyes are barely over the sill, but of course he won't do that when I am recording a video.

Cheeto's fur isn't warm enough

It appears that Cheeto's fur is not warm enough.She burrows underblankets, making some odd photos. Not sure what to make of her expression in the last pic.

Cheeto did not appreciate the unflattering photos, I left my camera on the desk and left my room for three minutes, I come back and my camera is gone. For a minute I thought it had been stolen, then I found it on the floor. Fortunately it had not been damaged.

I guess I'm lucky to not be sleeping on the floor.

Cats on Tuesday

The Cats - How do I get anything done?

Cats on Tuesday

Cheeto in her proper place

I live with four cats, it's really a wonder I ever get anything done.Most of what I do is on my computer but Cheeto believes she belongs between me and the keyboard. If I am typing she likes to rest her head on my arm.As if that's not bad enough Cheeto has taken an interest in what I'm doing on the computer.

Looks like I lost my fingers...

And Cheeto isn't the only cat who has to be in the center of attention. Pout is ridiculously affectionate and clingy.

Pout in his proper place

I really don't think it's possible to make Pout leave me alone when he's in an affectionate mood.

I start classes today, all online, so of course Cheeto and Pout will be helping me.