Easy Like Sunday

LORI:   Im close to Laz inside a lot, but sometimes outside too...

And aside from that, Ive watched Ayla, Marley, and Laz have Birfdays.  Ive enjoyed the celebrations and party.  But Ive been wondering when mine will be.  It would be my first.

But TBT said he would surprise me about it.  Well, he finally told me!  I turn 1 year old in 3 days; August 3rd.  And I will have a big pawty ta celabrate it!

He promises the best foods and Nip (though I don't really respond to Nip yet), games, toys, boxes and bags.  All new because it is my 1st Birfday.  Please save the date to visit; it will be my 1st ever...

So it has been a great 1st year:

Caturday Saturday

MARLEY:  There are few things sadder to see than empty food bowls!  

Lori agrees (she can eat as much as *I* do).  Well, I sit around a lot and she races around the house chasing toys and Laz.  And runs around with Laz in the backyard.  And TBT says her met-tab-olizm is way higher than mine so she needs more foods.

But, really, doesn't this just make you cry?

I need more access to the foods...  Really.  TBT says I weigh between 16-18 pounds (the vet's scales and ours differ) but why is that a problem?  I'm just always hungry.

Worse, I know where the food is.  It is right up there.   Forgive me for staring...

I guess I am lucky in a way.  The vet gave TBT a diet spreadsheet.  Counts "calorys" which means amounts (to me).  He hasn't tried it yet.  We get a real variety of foods, and we trade bowls (TBT here: Marley noses into any foodbowl unless I stand right there and stop him) so it gets tricky to measure.

On the other paw, Ayla gained a couple ounces, Laz is staying good at 9.5 lbs, and Lori gains a few ounces every Big Moon.  I can tell; she is a little bigger each week.  She was SO SMALL once...

TBT says as long as I dont lose much weight and the other Mews gain weight, that it good.  Of mousie-droppings!  Where is the fairness of foods in that?
 

Flashback Friday

 Today we revisit this week in 2014.

Marley is enjoying the hammock...

And cuddling with Iza, doing the floaty toes.

Thankful Thursday

TBT:   Some rather unusual things to be thankful for...

I really have to keep the camera in my pocket more often...  I noticed a few days ago that all The Mews have sometimes been in either the Mews Room or the bedroom together all at once and in peace.  

Sadly, I couldn't get any pictures.  It's not like they are all that close together.  But all 4 in the same room(s) at the same time is new.  I can't recall it happening anytime before.  I hope it continues...  

Other things to be thankful for today...

Lori has always been shy about using the litter box when I am at my workbench (next to the litterboxes).  She seems to be getting over that (so long as I don't move suddenly).  Cats either care or don't about that.  Marley once used a litterbox while I was cleaning it, LOL!  Laz is a bit secretive about it too.  But they are each good about using them, so that's good.  

Regarding the above, Ayla remains determined to use the bathroom mat.  I don't mind.  Her poops are firm and easily transferred to the toilet.  She "covers" with a washcloth I place on the mat (she still has her cleanliness instincts if not the right location for them.  I have 2 mats both of synthetic shag and rubber-backed material.  

Every couple days I just soak one (and the washcloth) in the washing machine in hot water for an hour.  I don't agitate much, because they are cheap and I think they would fall apart.  I just soak, spin, rinse, and spin.  Then set the mat aside to dry while using the other.

The Mews don't catch my goldfinches or hummingbirds.  I was surprised to read today that cats can catch hummingbirds as the hover!  Fortunately, my hummer feeders are hung high and the flowers I grow for the hummers to feed on naturally are hanging baskets.  BTW, I always seem to have 2 male and 2 female hummers around.  The goldfinches main problem is that they won't visit the thistle feeders when Laz and Lori nap on the lawn below them.  I've never seen any cat bring a hummer or goldfinch to the deck.

Marley, Ayla, and Lori will eat about any food I offer.  That's good so I am thankful for that.  Laz loves kibble.  I keep trying to get his taste buds to canned food (and he eats some).  But I'm giving up.  If he really wants kibble to the point where he doesn't eat canned much, I will give him kibble.  But I'll try to find the best quality kibble that he will eat.  That's more of a Laz thankful, I suppose.

Lori adores the Turbotrack.  She pounds the balls (I added a 2nd) all around.  She can even get them over the bridge.  And she discovered the old small 12" round one in a corner that I had even forgotten about.  She beat that ball around for many minutes!  I love watching cats play.

Speaking of play, I pulled out a duster to remove dust from a wine rack.  Lori went after that like crazy.  I need to bring out the wand toys that Ayla, Marley, and Laz ignore.

That's all for now.  I'll probably think of some things I should have added while I am in bed later, LOL!

Womancat Wensday

AYLA:   I love my windersill!  Its a safe place for me (though I have been spending more time elsewhere as Laz as been calmer for months)

1.  I love watchin the outside from there.  Yeah, it is night in this pic but when it is bright, my pics are no good at all).

2.  I love the support rod.  TBT used ta put a towel on there, but I kept pulling it off because the towel moved but the rod did not.  He finally figured out I didn't want the towel there.  He is considering a wider windersill.  That would be nice.

Obviously, I eat up there too.  You see the bowl.  Nocat bothers me when I an eating there.  I can even save some for "later".   Really, I eat just what I need at a time.  Marley will eat to he throws up if TBT lets him...

I'm actually feeling happier and helthier these days.  TBT is glad of that.

Twofur Tuesday

Laz and Lori used to sleep together in the red cat bed.

 But they stopped and I was worried there was "trouble in paradise".  Well, now I suspect it was just a bit crowded as Lori grew larger.  And they still napped together on the bed sometimes (but can't when I take over the bed.

I bought a large bed for Marley years ago because he was so large (the vet says 16 lbs; my digital scale says 18 sometimes).  He never liked it (preferring the platform tree I built for Skeeter and LC a long time.  And Laz and Lori ignored it.  It was actually a doggie bed, though of course no doggie ever slept in  it.  Maybe it was too large for them.  

Well, they have suddenly decided that the old "doggie" bed is now the best place to sleep at night!  They both fit in "purrfectly"...

I am very glad to see them sleeping together again!

Mancat Monday

Marley is so  relaxed.  I love his frequent stretches, yawns, and floaty toes.  And this pic shows his mustache a bit.

Maybe it shows up better rotated...

Easy Like Sunday

After yesterday's post, I thought I should do different sort of Flashback.  More my memories than The Mews...  

This can't even include the 2 Siamese females we had has children or the series of grey tabby females I had in apartments.  I just don't have digital pictures of them I can find at the moment.  But my entire life (except while in a college dorm) has had cats in it (Ralph, Sport-Sport, and Ballou).  So I thought I would reflect on that with what pictures I could find...

Mischief, Jeremy, and Tinkerbelle from about 1984.  Jeremy (the big guy in the center) was my parent's cat via the youngest sister.  Tinkerebelle (right) was an adoptee from the older of the 2 sisters (she clawed badly so I took her in).  Mischief (left) was mine.  She died in her sleep about age 12 while I was at work.

Tinkerbelle came with me to our first (and only) house.  It was just me and her.  She stayed out at night a lot.  The neighbor lady once mentioned that she would often see trotting out of the field across the street and curling up on the front door steps just before I arrived home from work.

One day in Summer 1999, she never returned.  I wandered the neighborhood calling at various times, but never found a body or heard a mew.

But I had Skeeter and LC then (1992 and 93).  Skeeter loved me and LC loved Skeeter.  I can't find the "good" picture of them together.  But here is Skeeter...

And one of LC...

You know Ayla, Iza, Marley, Laz and Lori.  Dear housemates, friends, and companions...

That's a real picture, BTW...

As is this...

All that life with the cats...  Amazing.  I can't imagine it being otherwise...  

And it isn't done yet.

Caturday Saturday

Sometimes I forget that Laz is actually a rather small adult male cat.  It is probably because I thought of him as a kitten when I got him as a rescue, but he was over 3 years old and adult-sized then.  

He seemed small when I got him (9.7 pounds)  which made some sense as he was pretty traumatized and frightened at "yet another new place".  The poor boy must have expected that every change was bad (if not immediately, then soon).  

It took months to get to this:

And he was "twitchy" even then.

But he has actually lost 4 ozs since arriving.  Part of it is that he runs around the yard a lot.  But he is a fussy eater.  He mostly wants kibble.  I want him to eat the better canned stuff, but maybe it is his "comfort food".  He could live on mice a few years (ferals die young) but I'm hoping for another 10 (he turns 5 next month).  

Laz will probably never be entirely "normal".  Too much difficulty as a kitten when he should have been loved and socialized fully.  He walks around me in bed at night, but can't settle down next to me well.  I move slightly and he jumps away...

Which brings in Lori.  I got her for utterly selfish and questionable reasons wanting some sort of replacement for Iza (gone too soon).  And she is a joy to me for that reason and for her own personality.  But she is a joy to Laz also.  He adores her and from the start, she calmed him down with her love and attention.

Laz isn't perfect even now (he still chases Ayla too often), but after Lori arrived, his general world changed a lot in a good way.  He isn't as calm as Marley, and he never will be.  But he sure isn't the same angry hurt cat that he was.

Let's just say I calmed him down 25% and Lori did another 50%.  That leaves 25% of the hurt cat, but he is dealing with that better each year.  

It gladdens my heart to see him calmer and he and Lori together.  If the "hurt cat" part of him wants to take it out on mice and moles, and carry them onto the deck to show off his kills, I sure won't object.

I gotched Laz in May 2020.  I gotched Lori in October 2021.  I may have had a better 15 month time some other time, but I can't prove it.   OK, Skeeter and LC came 12 months apart and I loved them to pieces.    But that was 1992 and 93; this is now.

With Ayla coming around the house again, Marley keeping everything relaxed, and Laz and Lori BFFs; "now" is very good...

Flashback Friday

This week in 2013 features Ayla and Marley.

Ayla wasn't trying to get outside in the dark; she was trying to cath bugs on the other side of the glass (LOL).

No success of course, but she kept trying.

Marley was enjoying his chair tent.  

Later, he was napping on the tree...

And went all silly for the camera!

And went right back to normal...

 

Thankful Thursday

LORI:   I am VERY thankful for Laz.  He is my BFF.  We play Chase, Wrassle, and Nap together.

But I am also thankful for Marley.  He is very nice to me.  And he grooms me sometimes (Laz is not much for doing that).  He lets me play with his tail, too.

Womancat Wensday

AYLA:   I've been spending more time in The Mews Room lately rather than unner the bed.

Yeah, its kinna a mess.  There are bits of sisal rope, clawed-out shag carpet from the tree, and cardboard box shreds.  We dont really care ourselves.  Annyway, its OUR room!

TBT uses the sucky machine on it sometimes, but it doesnt last long.  

He could run the cleaner machine over it, but he keeps planning to replace it "soon".

I like it when Marley comes in and joins me for a while.  He is allus friendly (of course).  I DONT like it so much when Laz or Lori come in.  Laz wants to play Chase, and Lori likes to tap my ankles or play Whap.