This is so true for ME – since ideas for art projects rattle around in my head – waking or sleeping. Sometimes I wake up exhausted from having “painted” or “wood-burned” in my dreams all night. :0) Right now it’s ideas for trying to wood burn and paint wooden bookmarks. Makes it a bit hard to concentrate sometimes, but it’s definitely entertaining.
Speaking of entertaining, Monster Cat has been particularly active lately. The photo shows Monster Cat (aka Jet) sprawled out on the shelf top beside my computer chair. She’s on there now as I type, but she’s in a ball sleeping. Shhh!
Her favorite toy (other than the big empty box in the middle of our living room floor she jumps in and out of) is what I call a “pompom ball.”
Imagine small poms like this fashioned into a ball. That’s the closest mental pic I can give. She carries the ball around in her mouth like this –
BBC
She plays ‘soccer’ with it first, batting it around over the tiles or carpet, and then picks it up and carries it like a trophy. I throw it for her and she LEAPS to get it – but won’t lower herself to actually bring it back, like our dog, Amber, does. She’s above plebian activities like that.
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I know you’re thinking about Thanksgiving right now, and I hope you’re surrounded by friends and family, now and into next week, but I hope when this holiday has passed, you’ll consider going to my Etsy site to see if anything looks good for Christmas gifts. Lowest prices of the year right now and as always, I handle the shipping charges.
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We’ll shop for groceries and get our mail today. That’s it for errands for us until after the Thanksgiving holiday. I’m hoping to spend time in my art room this afternoon, as ideas for Christmas presents for my friends are making their presence known.
We went to bed last night with our a/c on upstairs – plus the fan, since my husband likes to sleep as if we’re in a blizzard. I’m thankful for my electric blanket! When we woke up this morning it was much colder outside. I quickly turned off the a/c. I JUST turned on the heat on the first floor since my fingers are cold sitting at the computer, even with coffee on a warmer beside me. What a difference a night makes! I feel lucky we have a good geothermal heat and cooling system that has just been checked out by a good technician for the season.
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FAMILY-
If you’ve been reading the blog, you’ve met “Monster Cat,” aka “Jet.” Here she is sitting beside me on the computer counter in a bread basket she uses as one of her many beds. We’ve had her for several months now, but she is just now warming up to my husband a bit.
Yesterday she suddenly jumped into his lap in the recliner. She allowed him to pet her for several seconds and then jumped down. It’s a start.
I’ve never seen another cat who likes to play ‘Fetch.’ She has a pom/pom ball on a string that is one of her favorite toys. I can hold it up by the string, then throw it, and she goes bounding down the hall or across the room after it, grabbing it and holding the ball in her mouth parading around with her ‘catch.’ She does this on her own, as well. All of a sudden she jumps up on my computer counter, walks over my keyboard so she can get a quick pat, ball in her mouth. Then, when she has her fill of my attention, she continues over to get into her bed.
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MORE FAMILY-
I had a really good chat with our son yesterday. He lives across the world from us, but we enjoy visiting on a chat program or a conference call when we can arrange it. (There is 12 hours difference – right now it’s almost 10pm where he is and almost 10am where I am.) I feel lucky that we are really close (other than geographically). I can leave him a message and he’ll get back to me pretty much right away. We can talk about anything, and I feel so happy inside after we catch up.
He just finished building and old-style computer – a project where he started from absolute scratch, building the motherboard, and working his way through it, just for the learning experience. He was excited that it actually worked when he finished.
I have an inkling of how he felt because when we were first married, my husband guided me through building a display clock from a kit. I worked and worked, learning a ton about soldering, testing parts, etc. He warned me that it would probably take a lot of time to find the bugs and fix them before we actually had a working clock. I think he was a bit ‘disappointed’ that the clock worked perfectly the first time we plugged it in! We had it for over 40 years before the display finally got wonky. :0)
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LINDA’S CRAFTINESS –
Hand wood-burned and painted wooden key chain. Wooden fob is 2.5″x 1.5″ with wooden heart glued and painted on. Initial or name can be added on the back at no extra charge. $7.00 with Free Shipping. See this and other key chain designs on HandmadeHavenbyLinda on Etsy.
My good friend, Cathy, sent this to me this morning. I had JUST come out from feeding the cat and cleaning up her area, so this was especially apt. I love it!
Monster Cat’s favorite toys are
the ‘mice’ with catnip in them that I got altogether on a card at Walmart for next to nothing months ago. They don’t seem to lose their allure.
a cloth ‘ball’ on a string not tied to anything
an empty box in the middle of the living room floor
She WILL get on the cat tower in the corner of the room, especially if I put one of the catnip mice on top. (She is drawn to the ball on a string that hangs from the top level.) I got her some ping pong balls, and though she bats them around for a bit, loses interest and just leaves them. Actual cat toys are a complete dud.
I will say that she plays and entertains herself more than any cat we’ve ever had. We sit and watch and laugh at her as she ‘stalks her prey’ of the ball on the end of the string, crouching down behind the corner of the box, then springing out to pounce on the ball. She then carries it in her mouth and jumps into the box. A few seconds later, she SPRINGS up out of the box and the game begins again.
Her favorite thing at the moment is sitting out on the screened back porch watching some rabbits who have been moving around out there in the evenings. I don’t know if she could actually catch them. They certainly keep her attention.
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.
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.
We had a ‘cold front’ come through overnight, giving us an overcast sky, and a temperature of 100 this afternoon, with a heat index of only 106. RELIEF! :0)
We’re supposed to have the new riding lawn mower delivered. I finally got a text this morning that the delivery window is 9am-1pm today. (We’re delivery #4). Fingers, toes, and eyes crossed that the delivery truck can get up our driveway.
I had fun in my art room yesterday, making another wood-burned sign –
No ripe tomatoes this morning; one tomato sucker plant doing well, two others are still alive at this point.
Monster Cat (aka Jet) is feeling her oats lately. She is trying to chew on cords, jumps up and tries to ‘snag’ my jeans if I’m walking, or my arm if I’m in my chair. I’m keeping my spray water bottles as handy as possible to discourage this.
I hope you’re doing well and are able to stay comfortable.
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.
I’m again trying to distract myself from the completely nuts world we live in, filling my days with pleasurable things, since my magic wand is on the fritz and isn’t working, no matter how hard I wave.
I had a truly wonderful massage yesterday from Lynn Moody, my massage therapist who listens to what I KNOW is bothering me, works on those, PLUS finds the spots I didn’t know about, and works on those, as well. I could truly fall asleep on the table when she finishes, thoroughly relaxed and loose. She laughs when I say, “Good night,” before getting up and getting dressed.
After I had paid for my visit and had a new appointment scheduled, I gave her a small ‘thank you’ for what she means to me – this plaque I made. She seemed to like it.
I was going to try to get up to my art room to start a new piece yesterday, but two things got in the way – THING ONE – I was on the phone trying to get the replacement credit cards that I was supposed to have received in 5 business days, but didn’t, and THING TWO – my husband wanted me to come out in the yard and help him deal with getting the new tach he put on the generator set and working.
I was pleased that my husband asked for help. He had gotten dizzy trying to work bent over, realized it before he had a more serious problem, and came and got me. I was able to get the tach set and tested, and I praised him for not trying to ignore the problem he was having, wish it away, work through it doggedly, or any of the other things he has done in the past.
Today we’re going to replenish our grocery supplies and get the mail. I THINK that’s all on our list for the day.
I fixed Suzanne Ryan’s“Bacon-Wrapped Cheesy Chicken” recipe from her Simply Keto recipe book last night. The last time I tried it I used Ranch dressing and didn’t have fresh mushrooms. This time I did have the mushrooms and switched to using honey mustard instead of the Ranch. My husband pronounced it ‘delicious’ and we have enough for one more meal from the leftovers. :0) Tonight is spaghetti, where I’ll fix spaghetti for him to have with his sauce while I have zoodles (zucchini noodles.)
I’ve told you that Jet (aka Monster Cat) likes to play in an empty open box, sneaking around it to attach a catnip mouse, and jumping in and out of the box. My husband added another box to the mix to see her reaction. I didn’t think she would get in, but she jumped into the top of the inner box, rooted around, and then exploded out again in dramatic fashion. I went to get the camera, but she was already out by the time I got back. :0(
It’s going on two months since we adopted Jet from the Fort Smith Animal Haven. We were heartbroken when we lost Abby, our cat of around 13 years and were delighted when we found this beauty was ready to be adopted. Our lives are now forever changed.
We don’t know what Jet’s life was like before we adopted her, except that she had a litter of kittens in the past, and was spayed by the adoption facility vets. She was really shy and was going to have to adapt not only to my husband and me, but also our 95 pound yellow lab, Amber.
I set her up in the half bath beyond our utility room, with food, water, her kitty litter box, a bed, etc. Now we have a door latch that allows her to go in and out at will, but doesn’t allow Amber to go in. This has been wonderful. We also got a loud bell for her collar so she can’t hide from us unless she remains motionless for a long period of time – something that is almost impossible for her.
We put her in the bathroom with the door shut when either we are eating or Amber is, to avoid any problems. She and Amber have now reached a stage of disdainful detente, mostly allowing each other to live and let live. They will probably never pal around or be affectionate with each other, but this is enough.
She can be quite affectionate and companionable, but has a quirky, weird side where she almost bounces off the walls at times for seemingly no reason. You can also pet her and suddenly she bites you or scratches you. She does give clues, though, and I am learning to pay attention and modify my behavior. My husband – the bull in the china shop – not so much.
She is gaining confidence, exploring and showing more and more of her personality. She wants to drink my drinks on my table beside my chair in the living room or the office. My coffee cups are usually on a warmer, so she sniffs, but doesn’t go farther. My cold drinks, however, are a problem. I have some heavy coasters, and I’ve been putting one on top of the glass to keep her from sampling. A couple of days ago, we had an altercation where the glass was bobbled, causing a spill.
My husband made a wonderful glass holder for his table tray, since he was dumping a drink on a regular basis. It is made completely of metal, fashioned on his lathe. It’s a thing of beauty and he hasn’t dumped a drink since he has been using it, though I have to remind him to USE it occasionally.
Here it is. He’s going to make another one for me. It’s quite a laborious process. He promised me he will only work on it first thing in the morning and will quit and come back into the house when it starts getting too warm in the shop. This is the third day. So far, he’s keeping his promise. I told him I don’t care if it takes him all summer to finish it, praising him for coming in when he should.
I have a rolled-up newspaper to defend myself when Jet decides to bite me after leaping up into my lap. I start to pet her. Sometimes it goes well. Other times she bites me. She is getting the idea that biting results in a loud noise and quiet tap if she does this, so that’s good. My SIL suggested a squirt bottle of water might also be useful, so I now have that sitting on the table beside me and will keep it with me when I move to the living room. “Armed and dangerous….” :0)
Jet is rapidly changing from a shy, quiet cat to a demanding, meowing, intensely curious, quirky one. It’s really interesting, but challenging.
She discovered a bag of cat food sitting on the floor in the pantry. She ate a hole in the bag and ate quite a bit of food before we discovered it. Now the food is in a plastic bucket with a lid. She goes into the pantry several times daily to see if the cat food bag has magically reappeared.
I got some shoes a couple of days ago (I ordered purple sneakers with the wide toe box and ‘barefoot’ feel like the ones I discovered recently.) When the box hit the floor, Jet immediately jumped into it. She looked out, big-eyed and full of mischief. She jumped in and out, rolled it over and over, danced around it. We have decided that is one of her toys now, and will let it live there until she tires of it. :0)
The old folks around here are adapting pretty well to Monster Cat, and life is full.
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