Bogieblog

Thanksgiving Cactus

My Thanksgiving cactus bloomer right on time (who knew that there are Christmas, easter and Thanksgiving cactus?)

I don't do anything special with this plant and it bloomed 3-4 times this year. It is in the living room bay window and I water it about every two weeks. Looking online, you are supposed to keep them moist - ha, this one should ever be so lucky. Actually, if I keep it moist it starts looking a bit shabby, so I let it dry out on a regular basis. It also gets full sun - although with our rainy and snowy fall, there has been little sun, so it has experienced a lot of unintentional darkness. And, the bay window is cool during the winter since I keep the drapes closed to conserve heat - but none of that explains it blooming at other times of the year. Oh well, I enjoy the blooms and that is all that counts.

I had to take a lot of pictures before I could get the ones posted above. Some of the other pictures:

The Beginning of the Kittens

It dawns on me that I have "known" my kittens since they were very young. No, I didn't touch them, nor did I know which would pick me or how many I would end up with. But the persons from whom I got them regularly shared pictures and adventures from the time before they took them from the feral mother. I stole these pictures from a thread he started on a forum I frequent - and the rest is history. Enjoy the cuteness overload!

Kittens as they were found in a garage 2 days after their birth. The saw the mama cat frequently, so knew when they had last seen her pregnant. Pic taken on 5-15-18.

This is mama cat taken 5/22/18

At 2 weeks they began bringing them in the house for an hour or so for socializing before returning them to mama. Spot is the wanderer, Rainey (AKA runt) is the one being smooshed. Glasses (who later became Gizmo) is top left and Slash (for the slash on her nose) is on the right. The people who took the kittens in kept Glasses/Gizmo and Slash. Pictures taken 5/26/18

At 4 weeks old (6/9/18), mama had already moved them twice and was in the process of moving them again when the humans finally decided that they needed to grab the kittens for good before mama took them somewhere they couldn't be found - and ended up feral themselves (or lunch). They only managed to grab two of the kittens the first night - Slash and Spot.

 The next day, 6/10/18, they managed to find a third kitten - Rainey/Runt.

And that night, the fourth kitten was found and brought in

 

7/5/18 - Three kittens and Pheobe (the humans' other cat) chasing an electric mouse

7/6/18 Runt/Rainey

7/12/18 - Spot, Slash and Runt/Rainey

 Two days after that group picture I made the trip down to RI, and that was the beginning of the Destructo Duo's impact on this household.

Equal Time for Spot's Playtime

I have determined that Spot purposefully takes items to the bathtub to play with them. When she is done playing, she is thoughtful enough to bring them back out and put them in an out of the way place. Gives her a place in which they can't get away to unreachable places such as under closet doors or under low-bottomed furniture. Last night, I caught her in the bathtub with a ball. All pictures shown in order taken.

When I quit taking pictures (didn't think about a video), I went into the office and heard the ball careen out of the bathtub onto the bathroom floor. I got up to watch as Spot deliberately picked up the ball and took it back into the tub for some more play time. I checked later, and she had taken her toy out so I didn't have to worry about it during this morning's shower.

Rainey Playing with Action Toy

Rainey has figured out how to pull the string she just needs to master getting it into position so that it scurries along the floor. Spot is fascinated.

 

Cat Bath

This morning Spot brought a leaf from another room to play with it in the tub. Guess it can't get away from her that way :D

Of course Rainey was watching - waiting for her turn to start mayhem.

Kittens at 15 Weeks

This was taken on a day that I had penned up the kittens because the front door was going to opened on and off. I put Rita outside. Fortunately, the kittens are just fine being in the pen and played and slept while they were in there. TI obviously was not stealthy enough to grab this picture while they were sleeping. Okay, this is a picture at 14 weeks.

These pictures are from yesterday morning - kittens are 15 weeks old now. Rainey likes to pose for pictures - these two were taken within 5 minutes of each other.

I was trying to get a picture of Spot's golden eyes, but getting her to stay still only happens while she is asleep. BTW, Rainey's eyes are a nice golden too.

I disturbed Spot sleeping on my office chair. Actually, when I grabbed my phone, she was asleep. She seems to have this weird 6th sense though. Pics are in order taken - all at 6:47 PM.

Nope, not looking at you

Big yawn

Go away, I want to go back to sleep (her squinty eyes crack me up)

Paving the Way

The landing below the ramp leading from the back door is a PITA. It was constantly muddy (from the constant rains we've had), very low from the edge of the ramp, and hard to mow or snow shovel. Additionally, there were two "moats" from the rain running off the roof (remember, my roof has runoff from all 4 sides), so there was a line parallel to the edge of the ramp, and another parallel to the ramp railing. Hopefully I have fixed those issues.

The before pictures - I had to take two because Rita was just way cute turning to look at me like "what are you staring at?" Unfortunately I did not think to take a picture of the difference in height from the edge of the ramp to the ground. You can see one of the "moats", where dirt has washed away from rock that  is perpendicular to the fence, about where the green stake is. The other "moat" can be seen (barely because the weeds are lush there) if you follow the drip line from beside the ramp railing out into the yard.

 

After I dug out that area, I added sand, then set the pavers so they sloped away from the house and the ramp. It does give a bit of an odd appearance with the left hand paver jutting just above the corner of the ramp (it looks worse in the picture than it is - maybe 1/8").. That is mainly due to needing to raise the level of the paver at the right hand railing side while keeping a slope. Admittedly, smaller pavers would have served me better here as I could have fine tuned it more than the 16 x 16 pavers allowed.

Looking at the close up picture, I immediately noticed that the right hand paver nearest the ramp is the wrong orientation - grrr. Too late since the setting medium had already set up.Wish it had been the middle paver because then I could have said it was an artistic expression :) .

Later I may extend it all the way to the fence, but the summer has been so rainy, hot and humid, that getting anything done outside is a challenge - and I have other things to do to get ready for the inevitable change of weather to come.

Kitten Mischief

The other day I was thinking that the kittens hadn't grown all that much in the month I have had them. Well, one doesn't notice such things when you see them daily. Here is Spot next to a water bottle the day I brought them home (7/14/18).

And Rainey next to a water bottle on 8/12/18 - Yep, getting taller

You've heard of dogs "washing" dishes, and possibly you've seen such videos. Well the kittens don't have that part down, but sure look like they want to try.

Took the two miscreants to the vet this past Thursday. They received their shots and got a clean bill of health except for a case of ear mites. No big deal - their ears were medicated and the vet gave me more to give them in two weeks. Even though Rita doesn't have close contact, somehow she managed to get some too (a much lighter case), so I dosed her (the vet had given me extra just in case).

Friday morning I got out of the shower to see this plant knocked out of the second shelf in the bathroom window. I was pleased to be stepping in moist dirt right after getting clean - not :). Fortunately it wasn't a favorite plant, nor a ceramic planter, so I forgave her quickly.

 

They have been slowly destroying the Anglewing plant in the kitchen bay window. Here is Spot sitting in the planter yesterday - Rainey had just exited the window as I was grabbing my phone to take the picture.

Spot demonstrated this morning that she has enough power to jump onto the kitchen counter. She looked so proud of herself that I felt bad for yelling at her, but hopefully that lesson sets in - it's the only safe place for things I don't want knocked onto the ground at this point. Well, there is the top of the fridge, but they both have been eyeballing that from the top of the dishwasher. I have tried to discourage them looking at that when I catch them looking, but I don't have faith since they are in/on the dishwasher so much.

I'm beginning to remember why I had been looking at getting another older cat instead of kitten(s) :)

Still, a ton of fun and laughs, so I think I'll keep them ;)

Raining Kittens

We've had a lot of rain the last 2-3 weeks. There was a 10 day stretch that i got 12-14" (I lost count). So I haven't really done anything except mow 1-2/3 lawns last night before the rain came in last night. So, here are a couple of new kitten pictures from 8/4/18

Rainey loves to sit on the CPU when I am on the computer (when she isn't trying to catch things on the screen that is).

Spot loves to lay in my lap when she isn't trying to catch screen items.

 

Spot finally figured out how to get into the hammock of the pen (3rd level). The pen is always open now but the litter box is in there since I don't let them downstairs, and the kittens still love to play amongst the levels.

Rainey was stalking spot

The next two pictures were literally just taken. I had looked to see if Rainey was on the cpu, and she was. Well, evidently my checking inspired her to join Spot on my lap. Spot (on right) was knocked out, but Rainey is grooming herself.

I think I am stuck here until they decide to move :D

Kitten Cuteness

Rainey found the best playtoy ever - a flexible plant ID/price tag from one of the maple trees I planted last year .

The kittens helping to clean off my desk (yes, I should file/shred more often than twice a year - LOL)

I was getting ready to close off the bedroom but when I looked, I decided I had to wait (Rainey in front/right, Spot behind/left)

Once they were done lazing on the bed, they moved to the living room bay window. It has been extremely hot and sunny this summer, so I placed foam board on two sides of the window to help control heat coming in. Still nice and toasty behind the curtain, but they seem to like it.

Good thing they are so cute, I just had to take a break and clean up spilled coffee. Apparently my previously "safe" spot for my cup, on the printer (on a stand away from the desk), is no longer so safe. The good news is that the printer is cleaner than it has been for quite some time :O