Happy Spring

And you don’t know how bad I wish it would arrive.  It’s been quite chilly here (about 20 degrees below normal) after we had a couple of teaser days that it was actually warm enough to put on shorts.  Yay!  But I know it can’t be far away now.  That thought keeps me going.  I’m very tired of being cold.  I need to bake in some 80 degree weather for a while.

I apologize for being absent so long.  I couldn’t believe it’s been two weeks since I turned my computer on last.  Where does the time go?  It gets away from me all the time. 

This is me three months after my surgery

I’m still recovering from my eye surgery, but things are going very well.  I’ve been working hard to get this huge bill paid off.  It’s definitely worth it though when people tell me how good I look and that I’m so much better than before.  I have to admit I was awfully tired of my drippy eyes.

So you may wonder what I’ve been doing.  Well besides working, I’ve been getting everything ready to file taxes.  I hate this time of year.  Plus, hubby had eye surgery on the fourteenth so he’s needed some help with that.  It’s quite an ordeal to go through all this.  Medical procedures are necessary, but not always fun.  His eye lids were interfering with his vision so that should be remedied now.  It’s just a long healing process.  I have to say he’s doing much better than I did at this stage, so that’s a very good thing.  I’d rather him have it easier than me.  I have a lot more patience for things. 

Other than that my life is one big blur.  All the days blend together.  I never know exactly what day it is.  That’s bad I know, but our weeks at work run from the middle of the week to the next so when the weekend is in the middle of the week it really screws everything up in my head.

Raven and Koki in the bathroom

Koki walking on top of the shower

My cats are getting along better, so that makes for a happier experience around here.  However, they’ll never be best buddies.  Raven always wants to play, or wreak havoc, and Koki has her moments when she’ll put up with him.  But Koki will be thirteen in May so that’s quite a difference from being four like Raven is.  But she still has a lot of spunk about her.  I caught her on top of the shower bar a few days ago.  She loves to scare me by doing her daredevil things.

This is the squirrel who lives just beyond our wall.  He may lose his home if they build back there.

We’ve had visits from the wildlife that live in the desert behind us.  I’m not sure how much longer that will continue.  Right now that property has been sold to a developer that wants to build homes back there, so all the neighbors are up in arms.  We’re trying to stop this before it starts.  There is a law on the books that may help us.  We’ll see.  More on this later.

Happy spring equinox everyone.

L is for Lover Eyes

Well I couldn’t let this competition get away without a cat post. 

 "Here I am," Koki says.

 

Koki is the one around here with the lover eyes when I’m on the computer in the evenings.  She usually waits a while and looks at me while perched upon the modem and router combo.  It’s warm up there and she’s small enough to lie there comfortably.

 Naptime

Usually she makes her move way before I’m ready and when I’m right in the middle of a post, or some important email.  Sometimes I can coax her onto my lap until I finish.  She wants to head butt me and nuzzle my face when she looks at me with half-closed eyes.  Her dreamy state makes me what to squeeze her.  She knows it and purrs loudly with contentment.

 To jump or not to jump...

 

She isn’t like this all the time.  This is my little daredevil we’re talking about.  She might be tiny weighing in at about eight pounds, but she’s mighty and will take on anything coming her way.  Koki has a stubborn streak too and let’s me know it.

 "I'm Queen of the hill.  Watch out."

 

Now that she’s almost eleven she doesn’t get in near the trouble she used to, but I can tell the pull of danger is still on her mind.  She walks the banister railing regularly looking at me to see if I’ll scold her.  If I did she’d probably jump for the tile below, so I know better.  She did that in her younger years and broke two teeth that had to be pulled. 

 Shower stall fun

 

She still tries to pull the drainer basket out of the kitchen sink too.  Some of you will remember my post from a few years ago when I woke up to find the drainer basket in bed with me – a present from Koki who probably worked most of the night to get it out of the sink and carry it across the house to the bedroom.  I wish I could have caught her in the act.  That picture would have been priceless.

 "I love boxes!"

 

I’m just glad this little fur ball ended up under my car that day way back in June of 2005 when she was a wee babe that could fit in the palm of my hand.  She’d been hit by a car and had a broken jaw.  I took her to the vet and had her fixed up.  I’m not sure she would have been near as lucky if she hadn’t wandered to my house.

"Hmmm...I wonder what's in here."

She became cat number six in my home.  My hubby knew I’d never let him take her to the animal shelter here.  Some of my older cats have passed away since then and I got a new baby two years a go, so now she’s number two in line around here by age.  But Koki and Raven both push Tootie around.  She’s the oldest cat and won’t scrap back with them.  I think they’re both disappointed by that.  There’s nothing like a good old rumble.

"This is one of my baby pictures before they got to know me.  Don't I look innocent?"

Daredevil’s Birthday

Koki

Over the weekend, right after the challenge, my little daredevil, Koki, had her tenth birthday.  It’s hard to believe I’ve had her that long.  Time is flying by too fast.  I can remember the day we found her all bloody behind my back tire.

I don’t know if any of you celebrate birthdays for your animals but I do because they’re my kids.  Usually on birthdays, they get their favorite food.  In Koki’s case, this is cheese, something she got used to when she had a broken jaw as a wee baby.

The vet sewed a baby button on her chin after he wired her jaw shut.

I thought this was amazing.  I'd never seen anything like it before.

  
And I make them a birthday hat if it’s a momentous birthday, which ten qualifies for.  Of course, Koki isn’t one to sit still for a picture of her in a hat so I made her a necklace instead.  She didn’t particularly like that either, but I did manage to get a somewhat suitable pic. 

Koki turns ten-years-old

Later I got to thinking I should have gotten out the wrapping paper and pretended to wrap a package because she loves to get into the curling ribbon and always lets me put it around her neck.  I know this is because she thinks she’s really getting away with something.

Cats are so much like people in that regard.  It’s a whole lot more fun to do something you aren’t supposed to than to do something you’re told to do.

Anyway, my daredevil feasted on cheese because it was her idea.  I have to pretend I don’t notice her eating or she’ll leave the room.  This is her way of staying in control of her situation, or so she thinks.

She has calmed down some but still does some daredevil feats if it crosses her mind.

Happy birthday baby girl.  I hope I’m writing a post for your fifteenth birthday.

Monkey see – Monkey do

 

 

Raven

I wrote a post a while back about Koki teaching Raven her moves and daredevil behavior.  This teaching goes on with Raven’s full attention to his studies.  He’s an eager and alert student following behind Koki and watching spellbound.

 Koki and Raven

Koki and Raven

 

Yesterday my husband got the ladder out to do some touch up painting in the house.  He didn’t have it set up five minutes and Koki was at the top investigating.  I’m sure thoughts went through her mind as to how to jump from there to the second floor, or vice versa.

 Raven

Raven watched from below, his big golden eyes wide, his tail twitching.  After Koki got down, he looked it over and then proceeded up the ladder, cautiously at first, stopping to smell every step.  Before long he was at the top eyeing the second floor.

Raven

The “kids” had fun all evening, but we took the ladder back to the garage overnight for fear they would do some daredevil tricks in the night. 

Raven

Once the ladder was back today, Raven followed my husband up the ladder, which didn’t go over well.  I had to make him get down.

It’s all in good fun.  I like to watch the cats who are constantly entertaining me with their antics.

Meanwhile, hang gliders have been enjoying the desert behind the house

This was today's gorgeous sunset

Uh-oh, the Daredevil’s at Work

Koki - my daredevil

Yesterday, Koki was teaching Raven all her tricky moves.  She started out by jumping on top of the shower stall while I was in there.  She walks on the edge all the time.  He stood on the floor, alert with wide eyes, wondering how she did that.

Koki on the shower stall

Koki on the linen cabinet

Next, it was jumping on top of the linen closet in the bathroom.  This is no easy feat either and I’ve only had two cats that have ever been able to get up there.  Raven got in the bathtub and watched her as he stretched with his paws on the side of the cabinet.  He cocked his head and I could see the wheels turning.

Raven trying to figure it out

She was looking down and I’m sure she was saying, “na…na…na…na…na.”

She jumped down and they chased through the house and soon ended up on the banister upstairs.  Oh no!  That’s how she fell and broke two teeth as a kitten, thinking she could land on her feet two floors down.  I hope he’s smarter than to jump from there, but I’ve noticed he tries to jump further all the time.  He can already jump about six feet horizontally, but hasn’t figured out how to do it vertically yet.  He’s smart, so I’m sure it’s only a matter of time.

Koki on the banister upstairs

So she has him walking the banister too now and weaving in and out of the stiles.  It makes me cringe.

Does Koki have Competition in the Daredevil Department?

Snuggles



That is a question I ask myself when I sit for the neighbors cat, Snuggles, from time to time.  This cat is a two-year-old so of course I expected it to be quite playful.

My neighbor is an avid hiker so is often away on hiking/backpacking trips.  I’ve watched this cat many times, because I live across the street, I’m always around usually with no commitments except my own writing, and freelance work, other than my cats and husband.  Who has the money to travel?

Getting back to the cat, not being forewarned about its antics, it came as a bit of a surprise when I went over one day to find drawers opened all over the house.  My first thought was my neighbor forgot to close them, being in a hurry to get started on her trip, yet I had to wonder about that many drawers.

I just closed them and got about feeding Snuggles, putting out fresh water, scooping her litter box and playing a bit with her.  She’ll go and jump in the sink trying to engage me by twirling around to show how cute she is.

When I went over the next day, there were more drawers open and I began to wonder if anyone else was also checking on the cat, or had keys to the house.  When I talked to Sherry later, she assured me, the cat does this all the time.  I wonder if it’s just because she can or if she does it out of boredom.  Sherry told me she has locked her out of the house a few times by opening drawers in the laundry room, thus blocking the door to the garage.

The cat acted normal, bouncing off the walls, grabbing my ankles, and engaging me to play with her.  Of course, I felt guilty because I had a couple of assignments I was working on and could only stay about 45minutes per trip, so on my next trip I decided to take Koki over.

 This didn’t go over too well, as Koki was on another gal’s turf.  The cats ended up sneaking about to check each other out and never did get to the point of playing.  Of course, given time I’m sure they would have.  As mentioned above, time was not a great option right then, so I decided to bring her something I knew she would really enjoy.  This is what I took over to keep her occupied for hours.

This is actually a kid’s play tunnel that I got at Target years ago.  Our cats love it, spending many hours in it over the years; I knew this cat would have a blast.  My thought wasn’t wrong.  She about tore it up, but I had patched it anyway in the past so that wasn’t a big deal.  I ended up leaving this over there for a week.

However, that did not stop the other antics in the house.  When I went over on one occasion I found the lights and ceiling fan on, so not only did I have a cat that could open drawers but also flip light switches.  I wish I had pictures of all these things but I’ve never caught her in the act.  She does run and bounce off the walls all the time, so I’m sure her foot hit the light switch to turn it on.  She loves being chased and will wear you out running after her.

We’ve had a few funny moments over there.  My neighbor keeps the cat box in the shower of one bathroom, which works out fine because she has two bathrooms and lives there alone.  One time, as I went to scoop the box, I discovered the spray showerhead had fallen into the cat litter, another cat antic I’m sure, when Snuggles was climbing the walls and saw a cord to play with.  I put the showerhead back in place, but in the process, a few drops of water fell out and into the littler box.  Now this cat watches every move I make, so as soon as she discovered the water there, she jumped in the box to do her housekeeping.  I’m sure she thought she forgot to.  I had to lean back against the counter and laugh while I said, “Good girl.” as I praised her.

The only thing to top that was when I went over to find Sherry’s underwear strewn about the bedroom.  Her dresser drawers were open and an Indian-painted pot she had on top of the dresser had slid off and luckily didn’t break.  I was shocked and of course was glad she didn’t have a guy watching the cat who would have to walk in to see all the “unmentionables” all over the place.  I think Sherry was too when I told her about it.

That is my cat story for today.  It came to mind because I’m watching this cat again until Aug 5.

Living With a Daredevil

In light of all the bad things going on in the world lately, I thought I’d post a light-hearted, crazy story about one of my cats.

Kokopelli Figure 

This is the only way to describe my youngest cat, Kokopelli.  We call her Koki, you can see why.  The reason we gave her this name is that she was born in the desert, so it seemed appropriate.  For those of you who have never heard this word, Kokopelli is from ancient Anasazi Indian mythology and is a prominent figure in Hopi legends.  The images of Kokopelli figures are widespread, usually found as petroglyphs in Indian ruins.  They represent a mischievous trickster, or minstrel, a magical flute player.  I guess we named this little girl right.

Koki - the Daredevil

First, a little background – we found this little creature under my car early one morning when going out to get the newspaper. She had been hit by a car and this little fur ball was a mess with blood all over her face, and so small she could fit in the palm of my hand.

We brought her in; I gently cleaned her up over the kitchen sink.  Upon examination, I discovered that her chin had separated from her teeth.  I felt awful and couldn’t understand how she could stand the pain, but she made no noise of discomfort at all.  I’m always amazed that cats can go through so much pain, if they were humans they’d be screaming.  We are such wimps.

Of course, we took her to the vet as soon as they opened.  Now I must tell you that we already had five cats, so my husband wanted to take her to the local shelter.  I would not hear of it, so thankfully, at that hour, we found a closed sign on the door.

Off to the vet we went who returned the diagnosis of a broken jaw, saying she was about six weeks old.  After sewing her up and wiring her mouth shut, we brought her home and she became the sixth member of our cat family.

That was seven years ago.  Where has the time gone?

Now this little cat never did grow to normal size.  She is still about half the size of the rest of the group, but she is not afraid of anything and astonishes me at her antics.

As you can imagine, it was about impossible to keep her out of the dry cat food, vet’s orders.  This worked for a while, but only until she learned to jump onto things.  Her mouth was open just a crack, I was told to feed her eggs, cheese, canned cat food and other soft things, but no dry food for two months.  This didn’t make her happy.

The vet looked stunned when I asked for this button after he took the wires out of her mouth.  After some protest, he went and fished it out of the trash for me.

Her daredevil nature emerged early on.  She loves to walk on the railing upstairs, hanging over the rail to play with her own tail.  I think she enjoys scaring me to death.  She also does this with the shower stall and will climb to the top of a ladder and roll around on that platform to say, “look at me, I’m so cute.”

Not long after she got the wires out of her mouth, she jumped from the railing and landed on her face, on the tile floor, two stories below.  The results - another trip to the vet to have two teeth pulled.  She broke them off in that escapade.  Thankfully, she got smarter after that and lands on her feet.

Of course, the vet knew what was coming, so he saved the teeth for me.

This cat is always hanging off this and that, but so far no more mishaps, at least not the expensive medical kind.  She is stealthy now as she ventures to places she shouldn’t go.

However, she is always looking for something to get into. 

Lately, she began getting the strainer out of the kitchen sink and bringing it to the bedroom during the night.  I wish I could catch her with a camera, but of course, I’m always sleeping.  I know she must work at it for sometime, but she is tenacious and once a thought enters her head she will not rest until she accomplishes her task.  A few days ago, I woke up with the strainer in bed with me.

What she will do next is anyone’s guess.  She hurls herself over the TV when she gets one of her crazy streaks, so we’ve started closing that cabinet at night.  I caught her in her flying act and the TV was shaking, so I had visions of it crash-landing on the floor.

Perhaps that is why I had a crazy dream about her a few months later.  She put on a walking harness and spread her front arms that turned into wings, enabling her to fly.  She took off flying around, just out of my reach, as she laughed with joy.  She loves me to chase her.

She is just such a dear one and I love her immensely.  I’ll always be grateful she found my house that day she was hurt years ago.  I just have to be ready for anything because she keeps me on my toes.