Little Guy has returned!

 I am fine, but I didn't make it to con. The guys went without me. 

Happily, the cat is fine too, now. He had an adventure for perhaps 27 hours. Better than March, when he was missing 2.5 days! 

=-= LG went AWOL yesterday; he got scared while outside and hid.  =-= 

He stayed out all night. I'd been outside talking to him many times, stopping at midnight. We called him from the door too, both today and Monday: no dice. 

Blackie, parkour cat.

On 6-February, we trapped our associate cat, Blackie.  A day we're never gonna forget, I promise you.  

He'd hurt his paw; I suspect he'd got frostbite, and/or sprained his paw, which dangled unhappily for a few days.  I consulted our vet, explaining that he was partly tame, not a purely feral cat.  We set an appointment for Tuesday.  

Monday night, we trapped him, not knowing what we were in for.  

"Stair dot" | our cats.

A couple years ago, we had guests over for a long while. Back then, a game I'd play with our two kittens was throwing dots -- dots are what we call the Blue Buffalo kibble, you see. 

The kittens loved it. Chasing prey! Eating prey! Wheeeeeee!!

After our guests left, the kittens were full of energy, and I threw too hard: the dots escaped and went hurtling down the stairs. Ooooooooooh! said Digger and Misty, and promptly hurtled after them. I promptly blamed our guests for this-- 

Thus the "stair dot game" was born. :D 

I'd have to go down the stairs to rescue the lost dots. Once I ran out of steam, each kitten would get to snarf up the leftover dots in a bowl. Digger would try stealing it from his sister too. The pawsy squirt. 

2022 feline update.

It has been a crazy year in many ways. For one, our cat Jack elected to adopt more tomcats! 

No, really. First he'd mentored Little Guy, back in March 2022. Jack decided he liked it -- so after we trapped LG and adopted him ourselves, Jack found Cheeto, a fluffy-tailed ginger tabby, and then His Own Doppelganger cat, Blackie, another panther. 

Months ago, possibly last year, Blackie got accidentally let into the house, when my roomie realized the black cat present wasn't Jack. 

Going to the vet: June.

[ Written 9-June-22 ]

My SO is out of town; therefore I am currently Little Guy's main caretaker. 

I'm so used to him going and checking on LG that I keep forgetting, except that I do remember he'd need his boxes cleaned.  And my roomie has helped too -- apparently I strained my leg Tuesday morning. After twinges, my leg freaked out last night. So she kindly checked his box last night for me. 

LG has been very good, and barely hissed much at all. Heck, the last few times he did hiss were muted. Pretty much stating to us: "I am registering my dislike, but not horribly put out." 

Little Guy...

As I said on Twitter: 

"This is Little Guy. We trapped him 1-April-22. He was clearly abused or neglected when he appeared in our yard. 

"Next month he has his neuter appt. My SO has been socializing LG, who rarely hisses at me any more." And today, even though I got my SO to take this picture of LG -- still no hisses!

The lucky break (for the cats).

Happily, we got a new cat sitter this month. I say happily because at first finding someone was hard. NextDoor is my usual resource, and either people weren't answering or unavailable. 

I spent an hour hunting through sitters on Facebook -- and then messaging them. Not how I wanted to do things, certes! 

2021, in part.

 I may run late, but I do plan to do an overview on 2021.  

For a brief recap of the past six months, I finally had knee surgery for my right knee, which had two tears in the meniscus. I'm just over two months out from that, and although walking is far, far better now -- stairs, not so much.  

Doing stairs is weirdly random too; I've managed to go into the basement a few times, but other days, my knee[s] will freak out.  Definitely will need to see physical therapists for that next month.

Adventure kittens!

In recent weeks, Digger has become addicted to eating everyday grass* and to simply going outside. He wears his harness, so he can inspect things, sit on the grass or the patio, and just hang out.  I always pick a handful of grass; that way I can let both kittens enjoy it when he's done perambulating.

Hell, yesterday I dumped a few handfuls of dried grass out.  It was on a towel, and Digger likes snuggling up in that box.  I suspect he likes knowing he can just nibble the grass at any time.  He finds it comforting, having that on his towel.  8)

Monday, O Monday...

Monday was an exciting day. First, the furnace guy returned. From last Thursday [starting sometime Wed. evening] through Monday, we had no heat. Again. 

Furnace got repaired maybe 2 weeks ago?

The kittens and I got shut into our BR so he could work. HRM was upset; the heat came on near instantly, but the imprisonment didn't end!

Queen Misty wanted to dig her way out from under the door. This was also the opposite of fun.

The plus was that I wasn't sitting there, sans socks, in a cold room in a cold house, trying to calm two kittens. Unlike the previous furnace repair!

Morning in kitten-land.

Her Worship was all comfy on Her Throne, and calming down, grooming. Then Misty saw a string! It was sneakily hiding under some flat object, which she didn't care about. String! Oh yeah.

A little drawstring bag's cord. And she had to have it, she HAD to.

I persuaded her to accept something else and carried off the bag.

It is currently hiding in my pocket so I can send it to another home outside our house. :p

October-2: kitten update.

Queen Misty and Digger/Pocito are just rocketing around the house lately. Let alone yesterday, when I looked up to roomie saying: "The kittens, they're both outside." Just like that moment in Jurassic Park when they find the raptors are inside the room with them -- that's how I'm sure Jack and Sweetpea felt!

Amazingly, we got 'em back into the house. Pocito seemed a little shell-shocked by the yard; Queenie acted like it was no big deal. As she stalked Jack. Who looked appalled, frankly.


Annnnnnnnnnnd the kittens climbed the blinds on this night.

Her Majesty was the primary perp, and I got her off the blinds. She was upset, not just to have her fun wrecked, but that I was clearly Not Happy.

::  But the cords, such temptations, such a grand toy!  The texture of the blinds! ::

No matter that I've put the frickin' cords behind the blinds, they can be SEEN, and lusted after, if one is a kitten. =rolls eyes=

Kittens today.

Cheetah is still very snuffly, and sleeps more than his sister, likely due to his awful sinus infection. :/

He likes to cuddle up with people, and/or onto a Soft Place to sleep. To his great delight, I have set up plush throws for him to sleep on the LR couch and the basement futon.

Double cat trouble.

Today my roomie [SL] and I went ostensibly to drop off stuff -- for the barn cats of Saved By Zade, our local cat rescue.

Little Cheetah began smooching my fingers. I thought I was lost, and then some little girls took an interest in his cuddliness. I stepped back, but no... their mom backed out.

Yeah, we came home with two kittens. How did you know? :P :P :P

Jack's new vet adventure.

Jack's terrible awful no-good morning last Friday* went like this:

Sweetpea stayed inside all night. Didn't stir til nearly 8am, when I rose. Swapped her for one unsuspecting Jack.

Jack was fine, friendly and affectionate, happy to chow down. Third time this week he's just sat down by door and purred. He clearly hasn't been sleeping well.

Heck, Sweetpea decided to stay inside and sleep all morning! She hasn't done that in a while. So maybe he felt the same -- not feeling well, wanting not to be disturbed -- but hasn't wanted to waste the Great Outside, the playground, what if it rains again, can't miss out--

O Jack, you are still a kitten and will be for nearly another year. :D

Cat update -- or, Sweetpea's day RUINED forever.

I let in both cats -- as Sweetie hadn't come in earlier, and this was about to be Jack's third breakfast -- and prepared. They were eating, and I'd spooked Sweetpea by bringing "kitten crunchies" aka the kitten food they both like as snackage.

( Lately I've been adding "crunchies" to their first breakfast as a greeting, to rejoice that they made it to their First Meal, and Sweetpea especially considers this a new and excellent greeting/habit.

( It began about a week ago, so it's a habit for life now. :p )

July 2018 to now.

It's been nearly a year since I posted last. With four posts last year, and this the first posted in 2019--

The short version of the past year is this: Tiny Cat chose to live inside with us; six months later, he vanished; his family nearly all vanished; I've been struggling with depression for many months...

I did get a new shrink. So that worked out. :) Except for the other problem, which is that I appear to be speeding BACK into effin' hypomania. Again. Not my current doctor's fault, he is very good at working with me, unlike the previous few doctors.

More on my health later...


Looking back, I posted about the cats and our cat colony, so I'm glad I documented it at least. :/ Having one beloved cat disappear, and then not just one more cat, but four more--! It takes a toll on you.

Gatito was just a couple days away from his first birthday, dammit!

I tried not to get close to his cousins -- Shadow had her second litter two years after her first -- but I failed.

I loved Cali, little scamp that she was.  She somehow projected an aura of "small human girl in a pinafore" as she rocketed around.  You could feel her determination as she did whatever she wanted, all the time, and focused intensely on those things. Beautiful little bratling, Cali was. Dammit...

From kittens to kitten.

FYI: Like Tiny Cat, these are feral kittens.

Last week Nixie went missing, on 25-July-18. After breakfast. This seems to be the time the kittens vanish, sometime after the kibble comes back out.

Can't leave the kibble out overnight, since local coons -- anywhere from 3-7 a night! -- come by, along with a couple skunks, and maybe a possum.

Nix is a dilute calico male. A timid cat. He and Jack had just started purring together at us...

Then Sunday (29-July) Cali went missing. She's a female calico. After I fed her and her brother Jack breakfast.

Status of kittens: variable.

Shadow brought back the kittens after that first road trip.

 [ETA: Nearly that entire link is about Smoky's loss, beware! :( "Smoky's grandmother brought us new feral kittens the following week, 18-April. They're gone now -- probably she decided to abandon them/lead them off to new territory."] 

Mother and kittens went away 2-4 more times since then for the day... then returned.

Twice this week they've all gone missing. Granted, it's idiot season -- where half the neighborhood blows up firecrackers day and night, a horrible experience for cats and dogs alike. Let alone lawn mowers.


Friday all the kittens came back late. I fed them wet food, knowing they'd be starving and thirsty.

Last night we got Nixie, hoarsely mewing, and Jack, at 11pm -- same time as Friday. But not their sister Cali.

Sunday I'd seen Nix at 9am, who then fled, but not his sibs. Back towards the far corner of yard. Shadow must've taught her feral kittens to climb fences... or to try to. Whenever the kittens vanish, I tell Shadow "bring back the kittens" and she realized that means I'll feed them wet food when they're home.

Last night, oddly, Shadow didn't want any wet food. The boys and her adult daughter Vee happily ate it.

Spring update...

Tiny Cat went missing 13-April-18. Three days before his birthday.

I have a couple blog posts started about Gatito, our Smoky, who was almost a year old.  Short version, we're positive he was rescued by someone who figured he was a cute polite young cat, and that's why there's been no sign of him. He'd always come home before. * 

I hope that person has other cats for him to play with, and takes good care of my baby. I miss him terribly -- we all do.

A horrible and vicious tomcat had been attacking Smoky, and Vee, and pretty much every cat here who wasn't Shadow. The only cat who the Orange Monster could mate with; I call him that rather than constantly cuss, okay?