Bogieblog

Fuzzy Explaination

I started to answer the question put forth by of "Do you think it is his age?" Cop Car and Buffy within the comments section, but quickly realized it was long enough to make its own post. So here is the answer:

I don't think his age (at least 7 years old) had anything to do with it - Fuzzy has wanted into the house for a long time. Tory has never gotten along with Fuzzy - indoors or out. Shadow has been less than enthusiastic about him (although he just choses to ignore those who displease him - with the occassional theatrical hiss) and the dogs have always been hyper-sensitive to him being in the house when we've brought him in for severe weather. Additionally, Fuzzy is no saint himself - I've seen him start a spat or two with Tory.

However, for the last couple of months I have let him in at the morning feeding and the evening feeding - just long enough to get everyone's food ready and then he would follow his bowl outside. This got everyone used to him being inside. When he was inside during the eye problem, he spent most of his time in the workout room, but would jump the gate before meal times and follow the pattern as if he was outside.

In these situations Fuzzy was always fixated on his food; he didn't appear to be a threat to anyone (plus, they were fixated on their food too). The slow conditioning of getting everyone used to the idea of Fuzzy inside, under non-threatening conditions is why they were all rather blase' about his being allowed to come and go as he pleases.

Don't get me wrong - it isn't all peaches and cream. Fuzzy is not tolerated on the food table at the same time as either of the other cats. However, if he makes the mistake of jumping up there while Tory or Shadow is eating, all that happens is a glare from the offended party and Fuzzy jumps back off. That's okay, Fuzzy is on the food table more than either of the other two combined, so he isn't deprived by any means. The dogs too can become overbearing in their curiosity, or desire to see if they can make the cat run (game of chase anyone?). However, those instances don't happen often and we haven't had any wild chases thru the house.

The most facinating thing though is that Fuzzy doesn't get on furniture (except the food table) - ever. It's not like he isn't perfectly capable of getting on the couch or a chair (he snoozed on top of the cat house and deck railing plenty of times) - but just doesn't seem interested. Perhaps that will change in the future or maybe he's taking his lead from Missy (who never, ever gets on furniture - Prince on the other hand is a couch potato). Actually, now that I think on it, if he couldn't look out the slider, he might get on furniture to window gaze. When cooped up in the workout room previously, he would get on the dresser and look out the window (the lilacs are there and the birds love those trees).

So, there is my rather long-winded explaination on how we got everyone to be calm around Fuzzy so we could let him in full time.

Fuzzy Situation

Fuzzy's eye is better. He completed his antibiotic treatement of Wednesday and is disappointed that he no longer gets a smidge of canned food in the morning (I hid the pills in soft food and he scarfed them right up).

On a happier note for Fuzzy - he did so well inside (and all the other animals acted so nonchallant about it) that he has now become an indoor cat. Sure, I boot him out twice a day, in the morning and evening, for fresh air and to do whatever else, but he is welcome to come in and go anywhere in the house. It's funny though, he only seems interested in the upstairs (except when using the catbox downstairs) and can usually be found sitting in front of the slider. He doesn't want out, he just seems to like the view.

Outside he was a calm but needy cat. He would run up everytime soemone went outside so he could get some pets, He would follow me around the yard waiting for pets. Now that he is inside, the neediness is gone and he rarely approaches us for pets. Some of that may be staying low-key because he is in a new environment and unsure of the new rules surrounding him - we'll see in a couple of weeks.

Now the biggest worry is keeping him from getting too fat!

Late Autumn Color

While waiting for WS to bring down a load of wood for me to stack, I took a gander around the yard to see what autumn colors I could find (the tree leaves are way past the color stage).

   This is a different type of cotoneaster than I normally feature - the leaves don't turn red on the other one.

   Firethorn berries

   Firethorn and Cotoneaster

   Not to be outdone by Cop Car, some of my roses are still blooming. Despite the frosts and the nights down into the 20's, Mary Rose is determined to stretch out the season!

   Mary Rose bud

   Softee struggles to survive - in fact thru most of the summer she seems nearly dead. Then, with the cool of autum (like the summer wasn't cool enough?), she duddenly decides that some leaves and blooms are in order. 

There are other roses still blooming - Home Run and Knock Out have bunches of blooms that just don't show well in pictures. Double Delight has one frostbitten bloom on it, but there are a couple of buds that might mature enough for me to cut and place in a vase if the weather holds out. Plus, it is next to the house, so has a bit of protection from the cold temps.

    The winterberries look funny with just the berries, but once the snow sets in, the berries will be set off nicely.

Hope I have given everyone the ambition to take the time to look for the special colors that come out in Autumn!

Stacking it On

Yesterday, although warm, was extremely windy. Rain was also threatening. So what's a girl to do to keep from being bored? Have WS haul wood down from behind the dogpen and stack it in the lean-to.

  

The right-side bank is the seasoned wood that I had re-stacked a couple of months ago. It is what we are currently burning out of. The middle and left stacks were stacked in the last 6 weeks. All the buckets are filled with pre-split kindling and bark for starting up the stove.

We will completely use up the right bank and maybe make inroads into the middle bank (keep in mind, the woodrack on the deck has already been filled).

This is stuff of warm and cozy winters!