21 posts tagged “cats”
What's one thing you can't say no to?
Lost dogs and kittens in pet shops.
I've had to ban myself from walking past pet shops. Once, within a few months we had four kittens. Big Man, Pumpy, Tossy and Marnie. Although Marnie came from the streets. Daz overheard some guys laughing about how they'd found this kitten and how they'd taken it out to the edge of town and tossed it into a paddock. So he went out there and searched for him and bought him home. We offered him to the neighbours but by the time they'd thought about it and decided they'd have him we couldn't give him up.
Then there was Carl. We stopped for breakfast one morning at Carlingford Shopping Centre and he ended up coming home with us.
Now they find me anyway. I currently feed two cats that aren't mine. There was another one we called Roger but I noticed he's living down the road now.
Lost dogs on the street seem to be happy to see me as well. And I can never just walk away from them. So I used to take them home. We had one stay for a weekend once until we found the owners. When I had the three little kids it was harder so then I just started ringing Daz and saying, there's a dog on so and so street, go get it.
Kimba is pretty soft as well when it comes to lost dogs and I think Daz actually abducts ones that aren't lost. Its not unusual to see him driving around with an unkown dog sitting up in the front seat of his truck. Because they love going for a drive don't they. Always look so happy going for a drive.
A couple of weeks ago he sent me a photo of two little dogs he had locked in his office. He'd even been to the butcher and bought them mince. They had tags with their phone number and address but no one was answering. So when it was time for Daz to come home he went around to their house, found the hole where they'd escaped and fixed it.
I think I can say no to just about anything else.
My mother often snips little stories out of newspapers and magazines and posts them to me. She also used to send me photos of people I went to school with from the local paper, but I never had a clue who they were. Once she sent me a photo from the paper of one of my old boyfriends and when I opened it I could only wonder why she was sending me a photo of a middle aged balding man.
However today this arrived.
The kitty litter cupboard. She said over the years when she has seen it she has thought of my cats (all dead now) and wondered if they would use it.
I would have to say - I really don't think so. For one thing they were all housetrained and had a little cat door to get outside when they needed to. And the second thing was if they ever did find themselves locked in the house they used the bath. Which was disgusting, but easy to clean.
My favourite part of the kitty litter cabinet are the hand towels on top.
Must say the cat doesn't look very happy. I bet they opened the door and tossed him in, then waited for him to pop out.
Vinnie
Charlie
And girlz in the hood
Chicken Little
Betty
Its funny looking at everyones photos of snow, and reading of people being cold frozen when its so damn hot here. And clammy. We've been having those hot days where you get out of the shower but can't get dry because you're all clammy and awful. Mum tells me to stand naked in front of the airconditioner for a while, but I told her that would scar the poor little childrens minds. So I just don't shower.
Too hot for a dog as well. This is Mums dog Polly. She's about five hundred and ten by the look of her. She came from the pound years ago, so not really sure how old she is, but she likes to get as much body as possible on the cool tiles in the kitchen.
Cat day afternoons as well.
I think Little Pussy Cat has gone missing.
I haven't seen her since last Sunday. We've looked but can't find her, dead or alive.
She actually belongs to my neighbour, but she has lived with us for the past three years. She had a fairly ordinary life. She didn't used to. She used to sleep on Shirleys bed and have cuddles every day. But then Shirley bought two new puppies and they hounded Pussy Cat so relentlessly that she ran away from home. She started hanging around our front verandah and Shirley asked if we'd feed her. They used to buy the food but after a while that stopped and we just looked after her.
She could never come inside or out the back because we have Betty. And she hates cats. So we bought her a little bed the first winter but she never slept in it. Instead she made a little nest up in the vine that grows on our side fence.
I tried to spend some time with her every day. In the morning when I took the kids to school I'd say - hello Little Pussy Cat. And give her a scratch. Let her sit on my lap where she'd have a smooch and a dribble.
Her name was Casey. But we called her Little Pussy Cat. Because her growth was stunted. We think it was the stress. She just stayed tiny. We fattened her up.
Of course she may still turn up. But she's never been gone before. Always sitting there on the verandah.
Goodbye Little Pussy Cat. Hope we made life a bit nicer for you.
I'm probably one of the few people in the western world that doesn't use a mobile phone.
I know I'm one of the only people in NSW that still uses public pay phones, because every time I want to use one I have to walk about 5kms to find one.
And I know, I know, if I had a mobile I could use it instead.
Well I do have one, but it spends it's life sitting on the book case. I have to have it, something to do with work, we all have one, part of a plan or something. And now I have a new one. It was time to upgrade. I said - just pick me something cheap, nothing fancy, will just be a waste. The woman couldn't believe what good condition my old one was in considering it was five years old.
But I also have a new camera which is much more exciting. I wanted a little compact point and shoot that would fit in my pocket. Nothing fancy as I have my good camera. But its kind of bulky and takes a lot of room in my bag. And when we go out I don't take a bag. So I bought a little pentax that is about the size of a deck of cards and I can take it everywhere. It is 8 mp and has optical zoom of 7x, so its a pretty good little camera for a good price. And the lens is built in so no noisy zooming out. Discreet. I can take photos without causing a scene.
And it takes pretty good photos - heres casey. It's impossible to take a photo of her where she doesn't push her face right into the lens - she's a sticky beak
What is your all time favorite board game?
Daz and I were big monopoly fans when we first started going out.
We'd set it up friday night and it would go on all weekend. It involved a lot of wine. And sometimes sculling. I think we had some rule about sculling a glass when you went past go. We always ran out of money pretty early on so we'd pay with community chest cards or trade the get out of jail free card if we landed on the others property.
This is Daz enjoying a game. We seem to have a puzzle going at the same time. I'm not sure why he's wearing a woollen vest as shorts. He tells me he didn't have anything else to wear. lol - we were thin then.
And here I am after a hard day of monopoly. There's Graeme in the chair, Billy in the box and Big Man in the basket. They were big days for all of us. We weren't big on interior decorating.
We only ever played backgammon when our friend Jeanette came to visit. She liked to enjoy a flagon and a cigarette with her backgammon.
that are not really cats cats.
I love cats and would love to have another one but I fear our dog (Betty) would kill it. We did have Carl (who died last May) but they came together as puppy and kitten and loved each other. Any other cat Betty sees she wants to kill.
But I have foster cats. They seem drawn to our house.
This is Casey. She ran away from home to come and live with me about two years ago. Her owners (who live two doors down) bought a new dog and it hounded her so terribly that she ran away and came here. And its funny that when her old owner walks past the house and sees her, he doesn't even stop and giver her a pat, doesn't even say - how you doin' pussy cat.
Like one of babys new feline friends she loves to rub around on hard bumpy concrete, smooching, rolling and dribbling.
And clean. She's like a little feral. Always itchy and always has little bumps and sores on her. I do buy her treatments and she's much better during winter, but as soon as she sees me coming with a tube of treatment she runs away and I don't see her for a day.
And she loves to follow the sun throughout the day. Starting on the roof of the car in the morning, moving across the yard through the day, up against the fence, until it gets to this point where she can go no further. That looks comfy. She was actually sleeping.
So she's like mine, but she's not really mine. Vinnie isn't mine either. But you'd think he was. He likes to bash little girl cats up. He became so nasty to the cat he lives with that he was put on female hormones to make him more gentle. I think they have made him fat. But he is very sweet really, to me anyway. He looks like he's just spied someone to go and smack around a bit. Probably Sabrina, the cat across the road. He tracks her movements all morning. The lady who owns Sabrina came across to complain to me once about Vinnie fighting her all the time. Was good to be able to say - he's not mine.
Then there is Charlie (of the big fur who won't look at me) who visits daily and I've noticed a new tortoise shell under the bush in the front yard a few times. No idea where she lives but she won't talk to us yet. So when people visit they often say - oh, you have four cats, as if I'm a freak, when I actually have none. I am catless Cat.
Messing with Charlie because he always looks cranky and dark.
And Betty catching some rays. Because I know I always bitch and moan about how cold it is, and its not really. We have very mild winters. We have about three weeks where the days are about 15 degrees and the rest of the time is quite pleasant. Take today - even though its the middle of winter I can get around in a tshirt and cardigan and not have a heater on.
Anyway, Betty, she can always make a comfortable spot look uncomfortable. She sleeps on this old lounge seat.
But she likes her head to hang off the edge.
Then every now and then she likes to have a wrestle with her sheet. She gets it on top of her and wriggles around under it with her feet up in the air. Sometimes I find her walking around the backyard still in it because she's stuck.
And here she is just being her general attractive self. Sunning the tum.
This is Charlie. He lives two doors down. He finds life quite confronting. And although he's not a cranky boy like he looks he might be, he doesn't like to be looked at and he doesn't like to look at anyone.
He likes to catch the morning sun on the roof of my car. The size is fur not fat. Every summer he has a shave as he gets all knotted up. Never mind how dirty my car is. We have strict water restrictions here so no outdoor hoses at all allowed.
Not looking
Pretending I'm not there
Even when I get right in his face.
Almost
See, he's a beautiful boy.
