Bogieblog

One Smart Kitty

Spot is way too smart for my good. All summer she has been stymied from laying in the garden window in the bathroom by the double-cellular shade I installed. The shade is pretty stiff, so can't just be pushed aside and is the cordless lift type. I pull the shade in the morning to reduce solar heat gain but she really liked that window to lay in the sun.

On cooler / cloudy days I indulge her by lifting the shade about 1/3 of the way up to allow access. That leaves plenty of room for her to jump/walk in. The last several time I noticed her watching me intensely as I did so. Tuesday I saw her in the window and didn't remember pulling up the shade. But I figured I must have. Wednesday, I found her in there and KNEW I hadn't indulged her since there was just enough room for her to crawl under the shade.

Yesterday afternoon I was was changing out the trashcan liner in the bathroom, and Spot was sitting on the toilet (I leave the lid down), and she was looking intently at the shade. So I stood and watched. She pushed with a paw several times until the shade swung enough toward her to clear the window ledge (this is not easy, not like a regular shade, this one wants to stay in place). Then she stuck her nose under it and lifted gently and she kept nudging it until she had just enough room to get her body thru. The whole episode took a minute or maybe a minute and a half. Then she gave me a proud-as-punch look before crawling onto the ledge.

The little chit - so smart. But, she was so gentle with the shade, not using her claws or batting at it hard, so can't be mad. Plus, she left a minimal slot (not nearly as much room as I would have given her). Hopefully her sister doesn't catch her performing this trick. Rainey isn't one to think up antics, bu she sure as heck is happy to learn how after seeing Spot do it a few times.

 

Investigating the "box"

So the two youngsters are easy to get into a carrier to go to the vet. After all it's a box. Funny because they were both in that box a couple of weeks ago to go get their shots so you would think they would avoid it. Unfortunately Rita is not the same and she's the one I needed Friday. The two had fun exchanging places for a couple of hours until it was time to evict and grab the one I wanted.

Rainey

Spot waiting for her turn

Spot seeing if her sister is coming back for a sneak attack

Spot

Rita has a few issues; abscessed teeth (they have never been good and she only has a few teeth on one side), and she has been urinating outside the box (which was why I took her to the vet). The vet felt a mass in her abdomen and confirmed with an ultrasound.  She has been put on an antibiotic for the teeth and prednisone to help her gain weight. "Masses", according to the vet, are rarely benign in cats (unlike dogs who get fatty / benign tumors all the time). She may be with me for quite some time, or just a few months. We'll take it as it comes. Right now her quality of life is good, so that is what I will go by.

Kitties on a Hot Summer's Day

A few pics from a couple of days ago.

Rainey baked her brains in the window for a while, then came out to cool off in the air stream of the AC

Not too much later, Rainey vacated that place and Spot decided to sleep on the hammock in the cat pen

Meanwhile Rita was in one of here favorite places, a low table next to the couch. BTW - yesterday was her 6th Gottcha Day. I rescued her in 2016 when she was approximately 7 years old

Warm Spot

I've been running the mini splits for main floor heat when the outside temps are conducive (which can mean anything including how windy it is or how cold I "feel"). Friday was one of those days. The basement pellet stove must not have run for a while so Spot found a new warm place to hang out for a while.

 

Household Critters

Random pics of the critters I've taken over the last week

I scrubbed Birdie and Ziva's cages last weekend. Unfortunately I only remembered to take a picture of Birdie. They love to take a shower while I'm cleaning the wire part of the cages

Rainey checking out the garden gnome eating cat that I brought in from the garden this week. It was sitting on top of the cat pen drying out from the frost

Spot in the basement ceiling. She can get to the wood in the overhead bin by jumping on the clothes washer first. Sorry the pics are fuzzy, it is fairly dark and she kept moving.

Oh, and this egg was overly eager to become scrambled for my breakfast. The cats are not interested in eggs, so it was a total waste and pain to clean up.

Won't Take Long to Pay for Itself

I've complained about needing to replace at least one fence panel for years. It has been beset from several directions:

• First, a good sized section of a huze-azz willow dropped on it in 2017.
• Then a bear took it down to get to the bird feeder last fall
• I assume the same bear took it down this spring (I didn't even bother posting about it - heck I don't even see that I took any pictures)

Each time it was taken down I straightened it the best I could. I started looking for fence panels from local stores last September (the first bear transgression). Single panels were not to be found and I was unwilling to buy an entire kennel plus delivery charges. I did find a company to build me a center support pipe - and that was j-u-s-t enough to keep it from collapsing over the winter (that and the dearth of snow storms so the roof didn't dump much). But with the last attack, there was no way that panel was going to stay up, and it would probably take down the gate with it.

So, now that I have a trailer, I have been looking hard to replace the fence panel. Of course I needed a 10' long x 6' tall panel to fit in the existing spot. Agway no longer even had kennels, nor could they get any. A guy in Concord wants $200/panel. Considering I could get a 10x10x6 kennel (4 panels) for $425 at the local Tractor Supply (they had two in stock), I declined.  I wanted to get an extra panel for back up, but if I was going to spend that much, I might as well go for the whole enchilada.

I never realized how many different sizes of fencing there are until I searched CL and FBM - rarely were they the size I was looking for. I found several 8'x6' and 12'x6' panels along with a whole bunch that were shorter than 6' tall. Then there was a guy selling 2 panels of the right size at $123/each. I contacted him but he was unwilling to wait until the weekend for me to pick them up (I don't blame him, he had willing buyers. I was an hour away and unwilling to drive in the dark trying to find a place I've never been to, towing a trailer that I suck at backing up). I was seriously going to just get a kennel from TSC. Then on Wednesday, I saw an almost brand new 10x10x6 kennel on FBM for $300. I contacted the seller and said I could pick it up any time this weekend. And joy - the seller agreed to hold it!

After looking at the weather forecast, I arranged to pick it up today. The rain stopped just before I left this morning, the guy helped me load it up (thank goodness for the stake sides since the trailer is only 8' long). When I got home I unloaded the panels and used the 4-wheel wagon to haul the single panel to where it was needed. I asked the neighbor lady to help me by stabilizing the old panel while I removed the bolts/brackets. Then put the new panel up.

Here is the sad sack panel I replaced

And the new panel in its place

The reason I decided to pick up the fence today instead of yesterday.

And yay for having not only extra panels if needed, the gate panel next to the replaced panel has been tweaked/twisted each time the other panel was take out. Although it seems to be okay for now, you never know.

So having the trailer not only saved me $125 off the list price of the kennel, it saved whatever the delivery cost (which I'm not even sure that the local TSC delivers). And hey, now I can let Rita out if we have any nice days - poor kitty has been cooped in the house for over a year.

Huge Crop of Peppers

I jest, this is the sum total of peppers that my 3 plants produced. And even there I exaggerate, 2 of the pepper plants lived about 1/2 the season and just died for no apparent reason. That is 1/2 a sheet of paper, not a full sheet

These were picked after the first frost which was 10/24/21. Yes, that is a late frost, the 2nd latest ever that missed out at top spot by one day. My area will not have snow in October, which is hit or miss here. Some years we get 20"+, some years just a few flakes, and some years none at all.

The Nor'Easter was no problem in my neck of the woods. I had already recorded about 3/4" of rain from the periodic rain the two days before it hit. I saw light winds and another inch of precipitation dorm the Nor'Easter. It affected people mainly on the coast and south of NH from what I can tell.

And I will end this post with cute kitty pictures. Even following direction from Typepad for turning pictures, since apparently as a pay site it is too tough for them to figure out how to do it automatically, they still show up sideways :(. However, if you click on the sideways pics, the pop-up will show them correctly. Seriously, I expect better since they post just fine on a volunteer run, free, no-ad site.

Spot in the first two pics, Rainey in the next two, then Rita, and the two youngest in/near a rare sunbeam this past week.

Not Your House Bud

The neighbor's cats hang out in my yard all the time (pictures taken 8/31/21). These cats live across the street behind my house.

On 9/3/21, I saw this

Although the cats "can" get into the fenced area, I've made it so they have to work at it and they haven't been inside this summer (that I am aware of). Actually, this is the only cat that has done so - its buddy hasn't and the other neighborhood cats have not either. IDK, maybe it was looking for Rita, which I have not let out this year. Spot was intrigued and the "not my cat" stayed there until Rainey showed up a minute later. Rainey's face always shows such an attitude, that I don't blame the "not my cat" for skedaddling.

Cats and Sheetrock

Yesterday after doing some laundry, I draped a towel over the cats pen to dry. This towel is normally folded up and set up on one side of the pen for the Rainey to lay on while the stove is running. Later, I noticed Rainey had pulled the towel for better padding made herself comfortable. You can tell in the pictures that I disturbed her sleep :)

Looking at the last picture, you can see a bit of drywall work that I have finally started to cover the full length hole between the living room and the stairway. I had a partial piece of sheet rock leaned up against the lower portion to keep the cats from using it as well as to keep the cold air from the A/C going to the lower portion of the house. That piece of sheet rock was not used as it was a different thickness from the rest of the wall. A couple of months ago I tore out the arch in the doorway.Then  someone came in to add the outlet you can see as well as to upgrade the outlet in the stairs (from 2 wire to 3 wire). The green piece is leftover from another project. I still have one piece of sheet rock to go in the stairs - the very top piece that I can't reach to screw in. Plus, cover up the studs that can still be seen, but I'm leaving those openings. Wish I could have kept the opening on the left to make it more balanced, but an electrical wire goes from the basement to the attic thru that section at a diagonal, so that was not to be.

Goodness knows how long it will take me to finish this up as it only took 6-7 years just to get this far :)

Why?

I don't know how many times I've seen something similar this - why do people feel the need?

Friend posts on FB that she got the second shot and took a dose of ibuprofen (1 dose) to alleviatae symptoms.

Someone comments, "Be careful with that ibuprofen. It killed my younger brother. He ate it like popcorn and it destroyed his kidneys and liver."

Seriously, my friend posted 12 hours after getting the second shot and she has taken 1 FREAKING DOSE OF IBUPROFEN. That is no where close to eating it "like popcorn". So why the need to bring it up?

Another example - I occasionally post pictures of Rita out in the fenced area (6' tall fence) behind the house. During such posts, because I know what is coming, I point out that

• She only spends a short time out there
• She cannot climb and can barely jump (the couch is a big effort for her and has been since I got her - I assume back or hip issues). She has no interest in getting out.
• I will state that Rainey and Spot are not allowed out, because they definitely could climb over the fence.

Comment examples: "Cats Climb, she will climb out" "hawks/eagles/owls will sly in and take her," "foxes/coyotes/fishers can get in"

Eh, things just irritate me today.