Bogieblog

Kitty Entertainment in Winter

Last Sunday I was moving pellets from the garage into the basement. In order to be able to keep the door open, I put the youngsters in "jail". Spot had actually just gone in the pen to take a nap and when I closed the door, Rainey came to investigate. I opened the door back up and encouraged her to go in, and she obliged.

Rita of course, could be contained by closing the baby gate (if the guy ever decides to come by and install the new electrical outlets with new wiring, I could think about getting sheet rock to install on that wall :)

Yesterday the youngsters were intent on something outside, most likely birds. Spot is on top. I have never seen Rainey get up on the stove but she likes to stand on the register cover to look out when she isn't in one of the bay windows. She has to take a break every so often, take a walk around the room, then get back in position.

This picture was taken last Saturday, but it could have been taken a couple of weeks ago, or even yesterday. We haven't had a lot of snow; mostly just a 2-3 inches every 4-6 days. But, this shrub has not been able to shed what was dropped at the beginning of the month because it has never gotten warm enough to melt any of the white stuff.

Even on the few sunny days, the only meltage has been on the driveway closest to the street. Although not a snowy winter, I'm almost out of areas to put the snow, I'll have to get a picture of the piles in front of the house.

Good as New

The dealership picked me up Thursday afternoon so I could grab my truck.

Nice new windshield, can't tell the roof ever had any damage, and they did an excellent job of cleaning up all the glass inside. I'm sure glass slivers will be working its way loose for a while, but that is just the nature of the beast. I could tell they checked the moon roof for damage/gasket leakage because the slide cover inside was open. I weirded out while I was driving home when I realized light was coming thru the roof (it was a heavily overcast day, so I didn't realize it right away). Took me a minute to remember how to close the slide since I never use it.

That picture makes it look like I already got the tent garage replaced (I only realized that because of a comment on the FWC forum). I assure you that is not the case. Picture I took yesterday.

The only reason that back side isn't all the way down is because it is resting on a ton of pellets.

How the front is staying up

Wednesday there was a traffic jam on my way to work - I was almost late :D

Last Pics of 2020

Yesterday morning it was raining again, but there is still snow to be had

Looking toward the shrub garden about 3:40 am while it was raining

The swamp side of the yard after the rain stopped, at about 8:30 am. I couldn't get a pic at the same time as the previous picture because that side was too dark.

Pictures taken on 12/27/2020. Spot relaxing in the warm area I left on the couch

Rainey watching Spot relaxing on the couch. Not sure why she was glaring unless she had just finished kicking her toy's azz (that pink thing is the tag to a SmartyKat Chitter Critter toy). Although in actuality, that is pretty much her Diva "resting face". As an aside - most pet toys seem to be made in China - their dog and cat toys are made in USA from recycled materials.

Hope the New Year brings nothing but good things to everyone!

Cats over Last Two Weeks

Here are some pics I had planned on posting last week before events overtook me:

We had a gorgeous day on 11/10/20, where I could open the windows. I was working in the office and turned around because I heard strange noises:

Spot apparently found a bug on the ceiling

Rainey

A couple days later, 11/16/20, it was cold and I was reading on the couch with the blanket over my legs and lap. The cats were all snuggled up with me and I happened to have my phone within easy reach:

What? you don't see any cats?

 

Spot was between my legs

Rainey at my knee on the edge of the couch

And although she hadn't been there to begin with, Rita must have known it was picture taking time so jumped up at my side.

No worries, after the picture session was over, I covered the youngsters back up to keep them snuggly warm. Rita settled down at the edge of the wedge pillow and hung out for the duration of my reading time.

In with the New A/V Cabinets, Out with the Old Entertainment Center

After obtaining the missing screws,  I got the door installed for the second Audio/Video cabinet. Now, how to remove the old entertainment center? I wanted to remove it in one piece so I could set it at the side of the road in case someone could use it. If it wasn't gone by this weekend I would take a sledge to it, load it in the truck, and take it to the dump.

I prepared by removing the glass doors and shelf, placing cardboard over the front steps (no pics), corralling the cats into a bedroom, and propping the storm door open. I slid the entertainment center over to the door and lifted the far end over the raise threshold. And there, is where the plan ran awry.

I did not realize that the E-center did not have a piece of wood on the back side of the base so that side was raised 3-4". This caused the E-center to lean violently toward the storm door in a hurry. I caught it before it hit, but there I am trying to balance it on the one contact with the threshold at the front side, from the end in the living room. After thinking about potential solutions for about a minute, I decided I didn't care that much, grabbed the bottom (still precariously balancing it from falling into the storm door), and heaved it end over end. It exploded nicely at the bottom of the steps.

After getting the A/V cabinets and electronics set up . . .

I loaded the pieces of the old E-center into the truck. It was a pain to dig the majority out from the rhodies, but I didn't have to sledge anything apart.

Thursday evening I was sitting on the couch reading when I heard scrabbling sounds in the same room. I looked up and saw this. Actually, I saw Rainey standing closer to the cabinet (but not looking at the tail sticking out), but by the time I went to get my phone, she started to saunter away.

Yep, Spot, the adventurous troublemaker, had gotten herself wedged under one of the A/V cabinets. I thought at first she had chased a ball underneath. But that wasn't it. So, I'm guessing she was trying it out as a place to ambush her sister from. Four minutes later, as evidenced by the time stamp in the picture names, she decided she didn't like that cramped area and she started turning herself around to get out. Pics are in order and it took her about 15 seconds to twist and turn her way to crawl out.

Bear Damage

Wednesday morning I was getting ready to let Rita out, and took a look around the backyard first as I always do. I take a look because there is a fox around, and I have seen coyote. The fox could definitely get into the pen if it wanted to, and perhaps the coyote too (I don't think so, but you never know). The neighbor's cat come in sometimes. Rita isn't interested in finding a way to escape so I just worry about something getting in. Well, this is what I saw

Hey, at least he left the feeder - and it was still in good shape. I know it didn't have very much in it as the squirrels are pretty thorough and compete heavily with the birds. All the bear had to do was turn the feeder upside down and it would have spilled the handful or two of seeds and nuts. Seriously, the only damage to the feeder was existing from the squirrels chewing thru the heavy plastic pipe at one of the feeding ports (thru the mesh wire around it).

Needless to say, Rita did not get to go out. After I got off work, I removed the fence panel, the very one that got crunched when the willow tree top came down. I tried to straighten the panel out again (remember, it had been smashed previously), but the bottom pole had been bent into a V so when I stood it up, the only part that touched the ground was the point. Even after "straightening", the top now has two kinks, one on either side of the center brace, so it wouldn't be stable. That green pole is a heavy duty T-bar that I didn't have a hope of straightening.

I neglected to take a picture, but the bear also bent the heck out of the cast iron feeder pole to get the feeder off.

I went to the local Agway and asked for a kennel expansion panel, and would they please deliver. However, checking all their 6 stores, there were no expansion panels to be found, only 1 or two kennel sets (10 x 10 x 6). Apparently those are in short supply and they couldn't even get any thru their connections. ARRGGHH.  Friday I contacted a fencing company to get a bar to replace the bootm piece. Once I got it all pt back together, I made it work, but this can't be the permanent solution this time.

It's not pretty, in fact downright ugly, but I can let Rita out anyway. It is barely stable because it is still horribly out of wack and doesn't track along the straight line of the timber it is supposed to rest on.I'm pretty sure that the first snow dump off the roof would wipe it out.

It's times like these I wish I had a real truck. I can find a used panel on CL but getting it here from 40 miles away is a challenge without a vehicle that has the capacity to carry it. And if I have to rent a vehicle to carry it - well, let's just say I might as well buy the entire kennel from Agway between the mileage and gas I would have to pay for.

Cute Kitties

Last Sunday evening I walked into the kitchen and saw this

Spot on the refrigerator looking at Rainey

Rainey on the dishwasher looking at Spot

And, since I got pictures of the youngsters, I went looking for Rita. I didn't have far to go (what, 6 steps?) and found her staying cool under the A/C in the office.

Yes, unlike most cats, Rita likes to stay cool. This is where she was the next afternoon - directly in the path of the A/C air flow. Usually she is on the corner of the desk as the flow is usually directed towards the door. I must have had it pointed more towards my chair as I was working.

And this is too cute, Rainey and her "doll". The "doll is a witch Halloween decoration that came with the house. I used to hang it up  at the appropriate time of the year off the entry into the hall, just for fun. Then when I got the youngsters, they took way too myuch interest in it and I stuck it on top of the tall filing cabinet in the office (one of the few places those two haven't been on top of). A couple of weeks ago I was going to get rid of it, but the swap shop at the dump is still closed (for the bug thing). Then I decided that it could be a cat toy and I placed it on the cat stand. Much to my surprise, no one plays with the witch, and it wasn't moved off the stand. Instead, Rainey seems to have adopted it and she lays with the doll on a regular basis.

Tornado Warning 5-15-20

Had a tornado warning last night as radar indicated some minor rotation south of me and bow echos directly in my area. This picture was taken about 15 minutes after the warning blared on my phone - as you can see, the worst had already passed my area.

Earlier, they had predicted a low to medium chance of tornado, and winds up to 60-70 mph, along with torrential rains. So I was prepared when the warning came out. Rainey was already in the pen (at lower left, in shadows) so I only had to corral Spot and Rita. That way I could roll the pen into the hallway, keeping the cats safer, if the weather warranted it.

My area got the torrential rains, but the wind did not amount to much, not even howling as it has most days in the last couple of weeks. So after the warning expired, I opened the pen. They all came out, but 10 minutes later, the youngsters had gone back in. Rainey is now on the top, left bunk and Spot on the right.

Rita was up on the couch with me begging for pets

Pretty anticlimactic, but I'm not complaining.

Spotty Planting

As I mentioned last week in the Cleaning Up post, last weekend I picked up a couple of plants while I was getting birdseed. Sunday I potted up Rosemary, Lavender and a start off my older Angel Wind Begonia (left to right). Spot was a HUGE help - LOL

It was too cold to pot everything outside, in the 30's and raining, so I used an extra cat food mat to help contain any errant soil.

I did pot up this Nanking Cherry outside, then promptly put it in the garage since it was so cold, and there were several evern colder mornings coming up.

Spot has been helpful in other ways than just during potting. One day she was a speed bump, ya know, to slow me down as I went running around the house :)  (following pictures taken 3/26/20)

As you can tell, it was sunny out. However, NH has not enjoyed much sun since then. If you recall, last Sunday I mentioned that it was heavily overcast on Saturday. Sunday it rained, and that lasted thru Wednesday morning. Oh, that got broken up by the light snow we received early Monday and Tuesday mornings. Wednesday there were 2-3 hours of sun in the morning, and then the clouds took over and it rained / drizzled until early yesterday morning. Once again we were treated to some sun that morning, then it became heavily overcast again - but no rain. Even after at least 24 hours of no rain, the pond that had developed in the backyard hasn't completely drained yet (picture taken this morning).

Hopefully we'll get some sun this coming week.

Cats Being Entertained

I rarely get paper bags, but when I do, I place them on the floor for the cats to play with. Most of my previous cats liked to go into the bags - my present kitties are weirdos and prefer to scrunch them down and sit on top of them. Pictures taken on 3/19/20 - presented in order:

Spot trampling the bag

Rainey on the bag, with spot at the very top of the picture

I have no idea what they are looking at - they may have heard birds at the feeder at the back door

The next morning (3/20/20), the cats got the idea to go in the bag. The surprising thing was that Rainey went in first. She is usually the more cautious of them, and follows Spot's lead.

Rainey

Spot looking at Rainey

Rita strolled by to give Rainey a disdainful look - the only time she even looked at the bag. She is way to dignified for that type of thing :)

Spot wants her time in the bag

Spot flushed Rainey and is peering out. Notice the rip in the bag from the "eviction"

I picked up the bag yesterday while cleaning, and placed it in the recycle bin, so no more fun for them.