Flashback Friday

I thought we would go back farther in time this week.  I'm been doing too much 2011-2014 lately.  The problem is that many of my original earlier pictures are just blank in Photos.  But they  still exist in my more organized files of processed pics, so I went looking.

This day in 2008, Ayla was on the roof!  My TV antenna (remember those?) had fallen over and I set a ladder against the roof to get up there to fix it.  But I didn't do it that day.  

Ayla was a climber and ladder-steps didn't bother her.  She had learned from small step ladders and to her, literally "one step led to another".

I first noticed that she was climbing the extension ladder through the kitchen window while preparing dinner.

"Where does this ladder end"?

"Hmm, what is this new place"?

"Do I really want to go there"?

One last step to the roof...

And then she was up on the roof!  Barely a year old, she had mastered tall ladders and she had no fear of heights.  So of course, she explored the roof...

She probably wondered what this strange thing was.

She did look around carefully.  New territory demands careful examination.

A cheap camera on a tripod (with a lucky steady hand at the time) can even take a good long-distance pic.

She noticed me "way down there".

She did not worry in the least about walking along the edge of the roof.  

I think she was fascinated by the unobstructed view of the area.  I think she would have climbed Mt Everest if she could.  She did, of course, climb back down the ladder, which had to be a bit more difficult.

TP Destructo Kitty

TBT:   It has to be Lori!  She's a tissue-puller and a cardboard-chewer (just like Iza).  Not the toilet paper on the holders (so far), but she discovered a bulk package of cheap stuff  I had in the basement bathroom.  

A slight bit of explanation...  The day I heard Covid escaped China back in 2020, I went out and bought emergency supplies in case things went "real bad real fast".  Cans of soup, stew, chili, veggies; meat to freeze; and stuff like toilet paper, tissues, toothpaste, soap, powdered milk, flour etc.  The brand name TP was already gone, so I bought a bulk pack that was left.  It was really poor. 

I ended up not having to use it, so it sat in the basement since then.  Lori discovered it a few days ago!  

She ripped through the shrink wrap and pulled out a roll, then proceeded to shred it on the spot.  

I was actually quite impressed!  Shrink-wrap is not easy to rip open.  Well, I didn't want it anyway, so I left it for her to enjoy.  And she certainly did enjoy it.  It looked like this 2 days later! 

And then she surprised me further the next day.  She pulled out another roll and dragged it up the stairs into the bedroom!

I wish I could have seen her dragging it up the stairs and then shredding it.  Dragging it up the stairs couldn't have been easy.  I can only imagine that she bit an edge and the round  part (which kind of makes a corner) or just the round side, sort of like a lion dragging prey by walking on both sides of it... 

As I said, I am impressed!  I admire her creativity and effort.  I'll leave it all in place for a few days for her to continue to enjoy.  I can live with it a while.  It's not like 'Home&Garden' magazine photographers are ever going to visit, LOL!

But I will move the rest of the TP package to where she can't get at them while I decide what to do with it. And I'll probably reverse my TP rolls on the holders so she can't unroll them.  Iza did that a few times and Laz did it once.

But it sure is amazing to learn what cats will find to do that you don't expect!

Mancat Monday

 MARLEY:  OK, I finally caught one.  NOW what do I do?  

Flashback Friday

 This week, we re-visit this week 2013.

The Autumn Joy Sedums were blooming.  They are starting to fade these days but I have clippings that are growing roots in water, so they will start again next year.  Those are zinnias behind them I think.  Those are gone.

Marley was watching a mousie hole under a rock near the pond.  It was a good mousie place.  They had water from the pond, seeds from the flowerbed , and shelter under the rocks.  But Marley figured that out too.

Iza preferred hunting in other ways.  Marley would wait patiently, she stalked.  

She would feel around in any hole.

Sometimes, she would grab one.  Mouisies are kinna dumb.  They tend to follow things like flowerbed edging and Iza learned about that.  Ayla also caught many.  But she would slip into the underbrush and catch them away from their holes.  

Three systems and all equally successful.  None of them were taught (each grew up as an "inside kitten") and none did it being taught be the other Mews.

It was also one of those days when the canned food arrived.  I kept (and keep) them on a pantry shelf, but I always set them on the dining table to alternate flavors and textures.  Poultry, seafood, beef; pate and morsels.  I don't know for sure if The Mews really care.  But variety matters to me, so I do it for them.

Marley was only 3 and Ayla was 6, but look at the difference in size!  And Marley has gotten bigger since then!

Toy Thursday

TBT:  THIS showed up on the living room floor recently.  

I don't know where it came from.  Lori is a real searcher and finds stuff I haven't seen in a while so it is probably something she found in the basement (where many toys go to hide for years).  I don't even know what it was.  In fact, I can only guess it was a cat toy from the black tassle still attached.  The part on the right might have been a head.  I can imagine seeing legs in the lower left.  

My best guess is that it is left over from Iza.  She had a real love and talent for skinning and shredding her toys.  I have a dozen saved plastic mushroom containers.  They are the same shape and color and nest together.  One is full of Iza's skinned rattley mousies.  Seriously, the container of toy mousie skins and the plastic bodies the skins were wrapped around is a happy memento of her essential lethality.

Like a dragon, she watched over her hoard carefully...

I could drop one of those cardboard egg cartons on the floor at night and in the morning, there would be nothing left but shreds on the floor the next morning.  

Ayla seems to enjoy biting cardboard too.  I keep Christmas decorations in those sturdy Chewy.com boxes, and she has chewed off all the corners.   So I have bought 6 matching plastic bins to store them.  Lori likes to chew on cardboard too.  But she is more interested in pulling Kleenex tissue out of the box and chewing on the box corners.  It's always corners.  I suppose corners are easier to bite..

But Iza was a champion!  She was the one who shredded any cardboard, unrolled the toilet paper, and  destroyed toys with a vengeance.   I can't count the number of rattley mousies I bought over her years, but she might have kept some company profitable, LOL!

Marley and Laz never do that.  Is it a womancat thing?

Twosday Turbo

LORI:  OMC, OMC, OMC, Sandy Claws made an emergency delivery here.  He must have heard that I wanted more Turbotrack, and HE CAME!   TBT said he was surprised too (but not quite as surprised as I was)...

I got a 2nd Turbotrack moons before Chrissymouse Time!  TBT opened it up and was amazed.  OK, mebbe a little amazed than I was, but he immediately started to make my current one bigger!  I have no idea how that works .  And neither did he.  

I was seriously worried.  There were parts all over the floor.  And I had no idea how they should go back together!

TBT:  Yeah Lori adores the Turbo Track.  So I arranged with "Sandy Claws at Amazon" to bring another early.  I thought 2 would fit together having seen 2 combined "somewhere once".  Actually, I thought it was on the box, but those are just different arrangements of one set.  

One funny thing is that the 2nd set was described as "green" but was "blue".  Well, who cares about that?  I turned it to a color advantage.  

But connecting all the new parts to the old parts was quite a challenge.  I started by connecting pieces to see where they might connect at the end, but that didn't work well.  So I disconnected all the pieces and started arranging them unconnected.  Moved them around a lot unsuccesfully, but I finally found one and caught on to a few ideas (for anyone who wants to make a bigger Turbo Track).

1.  Reversing curves helps.  Like make an "s" shape of 2 curves.  

2.  The straight pieces (and the bridges are straight pieces) are few and valuable.

3.  Leaving all the pieces loose allows a general shaping easy to move around.  But keep the bridge parts attached as they don't work in halves (I may cement them together).

4.  As I had green and blue parts, I alternated them.  It looks better than random.

5.  As soon as I had one working attached 2 set combo, I took a picture.  Next, I'm going to try for other arrangements, knowing I can repeat at least one.

I seem to recall seeing a site once that showed various ways to combine 2 or 3 sets.  I can't find it now.  If you know of alternate arrangements (or a site showing some) I would like to know.  Lori seems to like compact ones and the only one I've figured out is rather large.

Mancat Monday

MARLEY:   I love my hammick.  I hadnt been on it in a while (not that there were fleas or anything), but TBT took it apart and washed the cloth part.  Well, it smelled better...  OK, it actually smelled like "nothing" which was good.

There was too much "me" on it before.  I like it better now.  And I appreciate that it is big enough for me to fit on.  

Edited ta add...

But I have to Meow Like a Pirate today.  Arr, I feel good a sleepin here in the hammick.  The ship's rocking is soothed by the swinging motions of the hammick.  An it makes ta bilge rats a git groggy and easier ta catch.  That bein me only grub here, I precities that.  It why I'm here after all.  Otherwise the crew would just toss me over the gunnels.  I know how ta servive on the ship.  Catch rats.  

Me catmates foller me guidance.  Aye, catchin rats and mice.   But making the crew happy too.  They love us close ta them on the cold nights in their small beds.  

We shipmatecats all have our spcilties at keepin the crew happy.  Princess Ayla sits at the front posing as a beauty (which joys the crew greatly).  I show them the rats I catch and get good treats.  Laz and Lori entertain the mates bein runnin full tilt all around the top boards.

We get by, but we DO have to show them we catch rats.  Ya gotta earn yer spread on a pirate ship!

Easy like Sunday

Many Views Of Marley... 

Caturday Saturday

 TBT:  Here is what I see when I want to get into bed at night...

No, that isn't altered.  Laz weighs 9.2, Lori has reached 7.4, and Marley weighs between 16 and 18 lbs (it varies).  He is a really big cat!  If you look at Laz and Lori (and consider that they are both curled up), together they do just about equal his size...

Aside from that, getting into bed involves disturbing them.  Sometimes, it is easy because it is time for their last meal of the day.  They are happy to go to the kitchen for that.   But sometimes it is after that meal and I have to peel back the blanket slowly.  They grumble about that, but they do move.  

They call me "The Big Thing" because they can't do much about it when I want them to move.  It is as if we lived with creatures than were 50' tall. But it means I am also gentle about it. 

They could always just move slightly, but they have their pride.  Lori returns first, Laz 2nd.  Morning usually finds Marley asleep in a corner of the bed.  Ayla doesn't want to be near any other cat these days.  Spends her time in the Mews Room, on the bathroom windowsill, or under the bed.  So I give her extra attention wherever I find her.  And when the others are out, she joins me at the computer or sometimes the dining room table while I eat lunch.

Flashback Friday

 Back to this week 2013.  

MARLEY:  "OK, now what to I do with it"?  These cold wet things are more Iza's playthings.  I only caught one cuz Iza said I couldnt.

Detante.  Or maybe a movie "The Good, The Bad, And The Calm".

Iza is watching a bird who might get careless...

Thankful Thursday

LORI:  I love my Turbo Track.  And we all love bags.  I combined them!  I got into a bag nearby and felt around for a ball ta whap.

I couldnt reach one, so I pushed out a bit further.

Well, of course, it was hiding too far away...

Obviously it fears me.  I need to keep it closer to my bag!

Speaking of the Turbo Track, I am asking Sandy Claws for another one so TBT can make it bigger.  I want something more complexicated compilicated fancy.  I'm sure he can, he can do strange stuff. 

TurboTrack Tuesday

LORI:   I adore my turbotrack!  I love batting the ball around.  And sometimes TBT adds a 2nd one.  Well, he kind of has to cuz I know how to pull them out.  And then I whap them all around the house.  I'm really good at that.  Sometimes it takes him days to find them!

That may seem like a sad thing for me, but I have lots of things ta play with in the meantime.  And TBT always finds the balls eventually.  Some of my favorites are old shrimpsies Marley tells me Iza used to enjoy.  There are also fish, moles, rattley mice, some weird woven thing with fevvers on each end, and some big mousie with bells on the tail.  

I'm the only Mews here that has figured out how to beat the turbotrack ball over the raised part.  Laz has watched me do it, but cant quite do it hisself.  Well, he catches mousies outside and I haven't gotten good at that so a little  "something" I can do is nice.  TBT has hinted that I may get more turbotrack from Sandy Claws at Chrissymouse time.  That's like 3 Big Moons away and seems hard to wait that long.  Marley tells me that sometimes Sandy Claws delivers some stuff early.  I sure hope so...