This is how she looks right now, sprawled out on the shelves beside my computer set up. She nods off now and then, looking extremely comfortable. I tried to pet her a few minutes ago and she bit me. She doesn’t bite HARD, but she did break my skin this time, so I’m continuing to try to break her of this.
Our paper towel roll is her newest handiwork. She found it in the pantry recently and apparently batted it all over the place after pulling it down from the shelf. My husband was going to throw it out, but I told him that although it LOOKS a bit odd, it should still work fine to wipe up spills. Maybe it also adds character to our kitchen?
I’m not having to try to catch her to put her into her bathroom anymore. I merely walk toward her bathroom. She either follows me right away, passes me in order to ‘herd’ me in there, or she come running when she hears a bit of her food hit the bowl. I can then step out and close the door without the cat latch. I have modified her food so I can do this each time I go in there and not overfeed her :0)
She is now joining me on my recliner several times a day. She jumps up, walks up my front and looks at me. I pet her, and then she turns around and plops down beside my feet.
She still either ignores my husband or is hostile. We don’t know what her background was before we adopted her, so we have no idea why. He is also relentless in his actions, refusing to adapt to what she does, so this may be a long slog.
Monster Cat and Amber (97 pound yellow lab) are getting along fine. I just make sure the cat isn’t out anywhere when Amber is eating. So, we’re making progress of a sort. Her weirdness fits right in with ours, so it’s an interesting mix.
My friend, Cathy, has been reading about my efforts to get Monster Cat to be at least a bit more cooperative. One of my ‘training tools’ is a small cosmetic bottle of water that I can spray to TRY to get her to –
stop chewing a cord
get her face out of my drink
get off the kitchen counter
stop trying to pull my husband’s throw off his chair
This is a nice mental picture of what it’s like to live with our new cat – “Monster Cat” (aka Jet).
She fits in well with us, as she may have mental/emotional challenges. One day she’s quiet and prefers to find places in the sun on the floor to sleep. Other times you cannot walk around without her attacking your leg, pouncing, with claws out and trying to bite. I’ll be reading in my chair and suddenly the cat flies past me, apparently after a catnip mouse, or attacking the empty box on the floor.
She has only actually hurt me once, and that was a long time ago. Usually the bites could be considered ‘love bites,’ I guess – very noticeable, but not breaking the skin. The claws are more problematic. Since she is a ‘house cat,’ rather than going outside as our last cat did, I’m thinking of trying to clip her toenails – one at a time – with great care.
Two days ago I found a roll of paper towels on the floor in the pantry. She had gotten the roll out of the opened package on the shelf, dragged it to the floor, and riddled it with claw holes and bite marks. It looks like a pretty serious fight was enjoyed. I’m not sure who won. I THINK we can still use the paper towels, just maybe not on the roll holder on the kitchen counter…
Sometimes she will allow a bit of petting. If she starts waving her arm, though, back off. She follows me around, jumping up to say “Hi,” then lying down by my feet in the recliner. She doesn’t want to sit in my lap. Just says a quick. “Hi,” and then moves to lie beside my leg.
When I pick her up to put her to bed at night, I kiss her head and cuddle her as I walk and she PURRS – the only time she does this.
I’ve learned that since she follows me, I can get her to go into her bathroom when needed by rattling her food container in there. She is suddenly right there. I can give her a few pieces of food and shut the door. HAH! She is seeing the pattern that we keep her and the dog separate for eating and then use the cat door cat door latch holder –
amazon.com
that props it open so she can go in and out readily while keeping Amber out when it’s safe for her to come out again.
I’m having an easier time working with Monster Cat, trying to train her a bit, than I am my husband, who I’ve been working with for over 55 years now. I had to yell at him yesterday because he was actively trying to get her to go outside while holding open the door! I think I finally got through to him, but he’s a stubborn former Marine Corps guy and he is quite recalcitrant about cooperating.
Every day is a challenge, with both the cat AND the husband. I’ll just keep on keepin’ on.
This is our Amber. She is really too large for people our age. (97+ lbs. now). It’s amazing that in the house and around the yard, when we’re by ourselves, Amber minds amazingly well. She comes, sits, gets down, fetches toys, sits until we tell her it’s okay to eat her food, waits for us to say ‘okay’ before she goes out the door, goes to her ‘place,’ stays off the furniture, doesn’t jump up on us, and more. When someone is HERE, she acts like she is deaf, has never seen us before, and has never had ANY training of any kind. A definite work in progress. We were told that labs calm down when they get to be two years old. Amber didn’t get the memo. She’s going on 5 now.
This is Jasmine, my SIL’s dog. My SIL works hard to raise a well-mannered dog who minds well, gets along well with people and other dogs, etc. They enjoy long walks together daily, have play dates with others, wears a CUTE raincoat when needed – a sweet, fun dog.
Finally, this is Skye, my good friend’s brand new puppy, only brought home this week. She is 8 weeks old. She doesn’t do anything yet, but eat, poop, sleep, and look at cute as cute can be. She probably will be like Amber, as far as minding when others are there, but Skye will only be 7 pounds full-grown, where Amber is a bit over 97 lbs.
Three different dogs in different situations, all bringing joy to their families. How “doggie-rich” we are!
BREAD BASKET: Monster Cat (aka Jet) just jumped into her bread basket that lives on the counter beside my computer. She jumps in, sharpens her claws a bit on the bottom, then walks over to play with, or try to chew on, my headphones cord, then walks over my keyboard, then back again, pausing in case I want to pet her before she returns to the basket.
BIG TEST: This is ‘the big test,’ a trial to see if I will AGAIN give her a spritz from the cosmetic bottle of water on the counter on my right. She does – I do – rinse, repeat.
REACHING OUT: Yesterday she did something she hasn’t done before. She jumps up on my recliner whenever I’m in it, saying ‘hello’ quickly and then settles beside my left leg to sleep until I get up, dumping her on the floor in the process. Yesterday, she said, ‘hello,’ went to the foot rest, but instead of settling, she turned and walked up my body, settling on my stomach! This is a first. She only stayed a minute or two, but she ‘allowed me to pet her’ -without biting me – and THEN went down to her regular spot, settling beside my leg.
BOX GAME: We’re playing a game with the open box we now keep in the living room for her. I’m moving it each day to see what she does. Yesterday it was on the couch. There was no hesitation. She jumped up into the box and settled for a bit. When I put it on the hearth later, she jumped right into it. She seems to enjoy the movement of her ‘toy.’ When it’s in the middle of the room, she gets in and crouches down, hoping you’ll forget she’s there. When any of us pass by (including our dog, Amber) she leaps out, acting like she’s attacking. At first I was a bit worried how Amber would react, but she just looked at me with a pained expression as she continued to go to get a drink of water. We’re all adapting to live with Monster Cat, who shows a new side of her burgeoning personality on almost a daily basis.
CATNIP ON CAT TOWER: I keep 2 catnip ‘mice’ on the top part of the cat tower in the corner of the living room. The tower also has a ball on a string hanging from one of the top levels and another toward the bottom, each swaying in the air a bit to attract her attention. She doesn’t play on the tower often, but it’s quite the show when she does, Olympic-style hanging from one level to reach and play tether ball with one of the hanging balls, while managing not to fall on her head. She reaches the top, finds the two catnip mice, and the race begins, with her batting the mice from level to level til they all finally reach the floor.
PING PONG BALL BATTING: I find a ball in a corner somewhere and take it where I can let it bounce on the floor. Wherever she is, Monster Cat comes bounding to catch or bat the ball. She recognizes the sound now and LOVES to chase it. Woe betide anyone who gets in her way in this game. She has no interest in playing or sharing with anyone else. That ball belongs to HER!
CRAZY CAT: We’re quietly reading, watching TV, or napping in the living room. Suddenly, ‘Crazy Cat’ appears, running at full speed across the living room, stopping on a dime, turning and running the other way as fast as she can, eyes wild, leaping, pouncing, jumping on the furniture, bouncing off the walls. We just look at her in amazement. Yesterday she landed beside Amber’s large bed next to the Entertainment Center. She just stopped. She looked at Amber. Motionless. Then she jumped at Amber. My heart was in my throat. Amber jumped up, then calmly went into the office, leaving the bed for Monster Cat, who calmly walked across it and plopped down in the exact middle, regally surveying her domain…
Monster Cat (aka Jet) loves the two cardboard boxes we plopped in the middle of the living room floor. She walks by, gets distracted – stopping mid-stride to leap into the inside box. Or, like in the pic above, she’ll crouch down or under one side of the box, alert for any ‘prey’ in the area, waiting to pounce. (If you look carefully, the black below the box lid on the front is Jet, with the tip of the white part of her paw showing.)
I apologize for my feet in these pics. I had my phone in my lap, trying to catch some pics of her. Each time I would get into position, she would notice me and stop what she was doing. All of these were taken as fast as I could, trying to capture the action, catching mostly my feet…
Round and round the box, alert for real or imagined adversaries – Jet skulks around the boxes.
The black to the left side of the boxes is Jet, stretched up, looking into the boxes.
And she’s IN! The only thing ‘out’ is the end of her tail. (I tried to get pics of her looking out of the boxes, only her eyes lighting up, but couldn’t get them.)
And she’s OUT again, rolling around on the floor.
Yesterday she was so full of vinegar she then went to the tower in the corner, playing volleyball one handed while dangling from various angles on the flat parts.
She finally jumped up beside my feet on my chair, one of her favorite spots now, to take a well-earned nap.
“Giraffes are fairytale animals, almost heraldic – as if from the land of fables. They have extremely beautiful faces, huge eyes, very sensitive nostrils and oh, blue tongues!” – Joanna Lumley
Instagram.com
“Well as giraffes say, you don’t get no leaves unless you stick your neck out.” – Sid Waddell
Izaskun-Pinterest
“The place I most missed my husband and family was when I stayed at Giraffe Manor, which is a crazy hotel in Kenya where giraffes wander around sticking their necks in through the top-floor windows for snacks.” – Monica Galetti
Lisa S. Baker via Michelle Johnson-Pinterest
“Giraffes are completely tranquil – they have no predators as adults because there’s not an animal in the jungle stupid enough to go for them.” – Joanna Lumley
Christie Desrosiers-Pinterest
“If I could adopt any zoo animal, it would be a giraffe. I have always loved giraffes. They are so graceful and beautiful to watch.” -Torrey DeVitto
cakesdecor.com
“My neighbors are crocodiles and tigers and giraffes.” – Bindi Irwin
“A Cheetah and her Cheetos” – Nature is Amazing – @amazingnature on XAngie Wallace Fine Art – @AngieWFineArt on Xnatalia-stock.adobe.comReally.Great.Stuff-PinterestMaria Stezhko Art – FineArtAmerica.comVojna Bastovanovic Casteel -pinterest.com
When I got up to let Amber out, I saw a roadrunner in the front yard! He was skittering along some rocks that divide our ‘civilized’ front yard from the ‘wild woods’ beyond.
As I watched, he crossed the whole front yard and then went into the side yard. He was just beautiful.
I love the way they run, head down and body straight, and then suddenly stop – head up and completely still for a second – and then flatten out and run again.
Amber is acting like herself in every way except for food handling. She is eager to eat, playful, energetic, sleeps fine, seems happy, but she is still battling upset stomach.
Because of this we found some dry and canned food that is supposed to be easier on her stomach. We just got back from the store and fed her. We’ll see how she does with this, fingers crossed.
“Handle every situation like a dog. If you can’t eat it or play with it, just pee on it and walk away.” – Unknown
juliemiles.co.uk
“Ever consider what our dogs must think of us? I mean, here we come back from a grocery store with the most amazing haul, chicken, pork, half a cow. They must think we’re the greatest hunters on earth!” – Anne Tyler
Peter Vanbekbergen
“A dog desires affection more than its dinner. Well – almost.” -Charlotte Gray
Peter Vanbekbergen
“If you’re uncomfortable around my dog, I’m happy to lock you in the other room when you come over.” – Unknown
Ryan Lovatt
“A boy can learn a lot from a dog — obedience, loyalty, and the importance of turning around three times before lying down. ” – Robert Benchley
surreysculpture.org.uk
“Outside of a dog, a book is a man’s best friend. Inside of a dog it’s too dark to read.” – Groucho Marx
I just LOVE these birds. There is something endearing about them. My absolute favorite is the Shoebill Stork, but a close second is the Pink-backed Pelican.
This is our cat, Abby, who decided to be companionable while I was working at the computer yesterday by taking a nap on the lower shelf of the computer table beside me.
I started trying to figure out how old she is. My husband keeps a general log on his computer of significant events, so I checked that.
I found an entry that we adopted Abby in February of 2011. We answered an ad in the newspaper advertising a ‘lap kitty.’ I’m not sure how old she was when we got her, but when we took her to be checked by our veterinarian, he told us she was pregnant! We weren’t in a position to be able to take care of a litter, so reluctantly Abby had an abortion, was spayed, and got the shots she needed all at one time. She is now 12 or 13.
She has the run of the house, preferring to sleep in a cat cube on top of the wood pile in the garage at night. She also eats there. The rest of the time she is inside sitting on my husband, me, or the middle of one of the dog beds in the house. She is, indeed, a lap kitty. She is very affectionate, though she has one of the wimpiest purrs I’ve ever heard. You can FEEL the purr, but it’s hard to HEAR it.
Amber woke us this morning, barking. She sleeps on a big bed in the utility room downstairs behind a dog gate. Usually she sleeps until one of us comes down groggily making our way to start the coffee. We got up and dressed, not sure why she was barking.
We let her out, with her barking like a maniac, but didn’t see anything in the garage and nothing in the yard that we could see of concern. She then barked to get back in and be fed.
She met me in the bedroom, just finishing making the bed, greeting me with a happy grin, lots of nuzzling and tail bashing into furniture and me in her glee to begin another day.
We ate and finished morning chores. I came in with my coffee and sat in front of my computer. All of a sudden, Amber was here, wagging her tail and smiling at me. We talked a minute and I petted her. She continued. I asked her if she wanted to go back outside. She ran toward the door. I obligingly got up and went to the front door, opening it. She didn’t follow me. I finally decided she didn’t want to go out. She followed me back to my computer chair.
She has had her breakfast. She got the rest of my husband’s cereal and milk.
I have spent three days off and on trying to get a good picture of a sweet little bird who sits on a feeder in our dining area window and talks and pecks at the ‘bird-in-the-window.’ If you look carefully at the pic above, you can catch a glimpse of him just below the butterfly.
Here he is, right before he flies away. I sat and sat, camera at the ready, trying to get a close-up, but he catches the movement on the other side of the glass and flits away. You can see him a little better in this pic, just to the right of the butterfly.
Here is the final pic that shows him either before or after he pecks the window. I hear him when I’m reading in the living room. When I try to sneak into the dining area, he’s gone. (Below and to the right of the butterfly this time.)
I’m thinking I’ll take the butterfly down for the day and see if I can luck out. I don’t know what kind of bird he is, but he’s lonely and thinks the bird in the window is really good-looking. :0)
We are home from doing errands. We got sprinkled on several times, but didn’t actually get caught in any rain. We stopped at the bottom of the driveway to see if our humongous trash can was empty. It WAS, so I laboriously dragged it up to the place higher up on the driveway where we keep it.
As we started up the driveway from there, we saw a doe and her fawn cross our driveway! They were at least 2/3 of the way up the driveway from where we were, but we could see them clearly. In fact, Amber, who was in the back seat, went nuts. :0)
By the time we were traveling up, the deer were gone, but it was a really pretty sight. Amber was teed off, but she didn’t need to get out and scare them, really, though she certainly WANTED to.
We are home for the day now. Severe thunderstorms are forecast until around 1pm, so we’ll keep an eye out. I’m hoping we’ll just get a bit of rain and the temperatures will cool off while I can get out and weed the second planter. Fingers crossed.
This is our Abby. She not only gets along with our dog, Amber, she dominates the 95-pound yellow lab.
This is Amber, the poor bullied dog.
This morning Abby got Amber to bark at the front door so that SHE could come in. When I saw what had occurred, I gave BOTH Amber AND Abby a treat. :0)
Abby is now sleeping in the exact middle of Amber’s huge bed in the living room, daring Amber to try to use it. (Amber is lying down behind my husband’s recliner.)
We made a big circle in our errands this morning. As we were going down the driveway with the humane trap and the raccoon that was in our garage this morning in the bed of the truck, two deer jumped across the driveway.
Plastic Pollution Coalition
We got my husband’s haircut, then went to Ace Hardware. There we saw a friend we haven’t seen in a long time. He had a possum on his shoulder! The possum was pure white with bright black eyes. I spoke to both of them, but wasn’t drawn to try to touch the possum. We got two big bags of sunflower seeds for our birds.
Tahlequah Daily Press
We stopped at the local grocery store and then headed out of town to relocate the raccoon. We passed a dog who tried to chase the truck and then saw a bunch of rabbits running along the ditch beside the road. I had never seen that before.
When my husband let the raccoon out by the creek, he just walked out of the trap, not in a hurry. He was a big one, too.
On the way back to the house, we passed a pasture full of cows, and more deer as we got close to home.
It looks like the cold weather is bringing the animals out. My personal reaction was to fix us some lunch and then cuddle under my throw to take a nap. Later I’ll fill the feeders and also put out some suet cakes for the birds.
creativeartworksblog 