CHRISTMAS CAT TREE

There was a mystery gift and it wasn't under the Christmas tree. Rather it was sequestered in behind the tv and covered over with a blue blanket ~ its hasty wrapping paper. When, what to my wondrous eyes should appear...

A brand new cat tree for the cats to enjoy! Me too, actually, because now they won't be on every other surface in the house and since they lost their last cat tree this past spring, they've been wanting one back. 
My husband made this tree from bits of rough hewn wood he found round the dairy. When, I don't know and when he got it into the house and down the stairs into the basement where I rarely go, I don't know and he isn't telling...
But I've been asking for one for a-g-e-s to keep the cats off other kitchen surfaces that they've claimed as their own and out from under my feet.

four cats in a tree

 

After putting it in the kitchen for the time being its become the most popular place in the house! Come January it will go in the living room front window.

This is the only way Molly and Sassy will share - 1. when they can't see each other and 2. when they are on different tiers.

The morning's entertainment on Boxing Day 2012;

For once Molly isn't hitting Winston and she can't see Blackie, so he's safe.
Of course, there's a story here, the grey cat on the highest tier is a little female; the one beside is a male...

Since she was fixed she's gained weight and  attitudes toward every cat that used to beat her up. 

So guess what?

Winston and the Grey male sharing the cat tree on Boxing Day morning.

Pretty much, you guessed it; she will take after any cat now...

Barn cats sharing a homemade cat tree

Happy Christmas to Everyone, including you're pets!

Prosperity, Family and Good Friends are all very welcome in the New Year ~ 2013

Catspaw

??? HOW'S WINTER TREATING YOU ???

2012 Winter on Prince Edward Island, Canada so far...

This was the scene on the morning of December 10th, 2012; there are 4 cats in this picture and none were impressed with Mother Nature's indecision!

Same day, a few hours later. I brightened the pic above and ...

left this one the way the great outdoors 'really' looked.

Then it rained all night!

Imagine waking to this scene this morning...

 It looks like Spring!

 and the sun is out and about;

Blacky, taking in the 'new' scenery... from the inside.

Ain't it amazing what a ton of overnight rain can do for an inch and a half of fresh snow.

Its up in the air, literally, whether this island will see a green or white Christmas this year.

Catspaw   

Working On ~~~

Sorry to be so late. I had an issue with a barn cat today. His name is Scaredy and for good reason ~ he's an absolute TWAWT!

So named because he's a barn cat that refuses to let anyone near him, although he is one to come round my patio door, begging. As you know my door(s) are open to all comers, within reason. Well, the usual barn cats came in this morning and as I quickly found out so did Scaredy. He came in (for the first time ever and probably the last) without me knowing it. It poured buckets of rain half the day so I closed the glass patio door. Lord God! All hell broke loose when Scaredy realized he couldn't get out!!!

He must have slammed into the patio door four times and the front window at least twice while running ramshackle through the house. Stupid cat smashed his nose up pretty good in the process. That other black cat did the same but Merrill was able to check him out and he wasn't hurt to the point where he would not recover; I'm sure the same will be said of Scaredy. Anyway, he managed to crawl under the fridge and I had to drag that out and get him free... Then he got himself trapped behind the big brown chair next to the patio door so I could finally shoo him outside. Haven't seen him since! Still have two greys and the black one in though, barn cats all and all as scared, at first as he is. They quickly learned the benefits. 

Today is our 10th Anniversary ~~~

Dumb cat!

Catspaw

Sailor and the Ruined Castle, Con't

Sailor could not remember being a 'bad' cat. That's what the human population of this village called cats when they were misbehaving by human standards. This was the second day of a torrential rainstorm sucked in from the ocean; the fog had not receded but had instead, grown denser and colder as it sank to the cobblestones. Sailor lay unconscious in the splintering doorway of a house, dreaming once again of another village. This one always felt more familiar to him. The last time he had found himself here, Sailor had followed his feelings towards a castle high atop the hill. He had turned in the direction of one of the castle gateways and... if he remembered correctly, had heard something; the sound of trumpets and cheering people and now, the sense that he would truly be welcomed here; petted, played with and fed as a 'good' cat. Was this feeling to be trusted?

Catspaw

Does The Demon Cat Still Haunt Washington's Capitol Hill?

I tripped over this story on Wikipedia this morning. It concerns a completely black cat of average cat size that came to be known as Washington's Demon Cat. This name was given to the ghost of (a) cat, one that is supposed to haunt the DC government buildings. 

Washington, DC Capitol Hill

Seems that back in the 1800's cats were being brought into the underground tunnels of the Capitol buildings where they lived in the basement killing rats. So far, so good, until... 

Tunnel connecting the US Senate to the LOC. What?  You were expecting something cave-like!

It started in the 1890's when a cat apparently and inexplicably vanished before the startled eyes of some Capitol Hill guards as they, presumably in fun, took a potshot at it. One guard, being so terrified by the sight of a disappearing cat, allegedly keeled over from a heart attack after witnessing this event. 

Tunnel that connects the House of Representatives to the Capitol

The Hall of the Capitol

What is now a accepted as a story from the past, states that this 'Demon Cat' is the one cat that decided never to leave and it now inhabits the basement crypt of the Hill, once intended for the burial chamber of President George Washington.... calling it home. Also in accordance with tradition, its said to often be seen just prior to presidential elections and disasters that transpire in Washington, such as being purportedly observed by White House security guards in the late dark hours before the assassinations of Abe Lincoln and John Kennedy. 

 

If it can be believed, these spectators tell a tale of a cat that 'swells' from pint cat-size to a whopping giant tiger-size ~ 10 by 10 feet when startled!!  Even more incredibly, it will either explode or pounce at the unfortunate that sees it, thankfully dissolving right before it reaches its victim! Personally, I wouldn't be waiting around to watch this transformation.

OK, so it is possible to have an enormously huge and possibly exploding cat!

The last 'official' sighting was in the 1940's when Capitol Police force officials were rather notorious for adding inexperienced relatives and friends of Congressmen to the payroll as a gift. According to one version told by the US Capitol Historical Society, a security guard was once 'licked' by a cat when he was in a drunken stouper on the floor; he thought he was still standing and was to all appearances very scared of the huge cat. 

This was enough to spawn tails of the Demon Cat legend and it wasn't long before other guards took up the story and learned they could achieve a day off (with pay??) if they saw the demon cat up close and personal. 

 

What do you think?

Catspaw

The Tale of a Cat Collar With Bell

Boo

He was a pint-sized black kitten with a touch of white; a blind, small, slight creature when I first rescued him that dark winter day in the cold barn. When, months later, he regained his strength and a little more growth, I gave him his very first cat collar with bell. Boo loved it and would shake his little head just to hear his cat collar with bell jingle. Many years later I was to find out that he was a Tuxedo cat and considered by experts to be very clever. Boo was indeed cagey enough to achieve the removal of his cat collar with bell and not a couple of times, to lose it as well. Of course this sent me searching the entire trailer for his cat collar with bell and scrutinizing each blade of grass outside for it. I usually managed to find the cat collar with bell for him again. 

Poor Boo, he genuinely missed his cat collar with bell the few times he lost it; so much so that he'd follow me out of doors to help look for it. As he grew older I had to extend his cat collar with bell for him. Boo didn't care for this because he wasn't wearing it and he insisted on having his cat collar with bell close by so he'd play with it and grab it out of my hands. Later, when another of our cats would try to play with his cat collar with bell, Boo would give them a whack and take it back. The cat collar with bell was his and his alone; no one was allowed to touch it! He was certainly not about to part with or share his cat collar with bell; that was just understood. After we'd had him for several years, Boo traveled with us on that memorable seven day road trip across Canada, that I'd like to forget, when we moved from Alberta to Prince Edward Island. I had the cats in my van so I was privileged to listen to a constant barrage of complaining and his cat collar with bell whenever he moved or shook his head, which was often! 

Boo was very disdainful of his bath time since it meant separation from his favorite toy, his cat collar with bell for the period of the bath; a long interval for him. It typically happened that he would reach over with one paw (his dry paw) and snatch the cat collar with bell when I was otherwise occupied. He'd drag it into the water and play with the cat collar with bell while I shampooed him. Well at least it kept him busy so he didn't mind as much. It quickly proved quite impossible to separate him from his darn cat collar with bell when it was sopping wet and set to dry on the register; he'd sneak in and steal it! Before long I'd hear the jingle of the cat collar with bell and discover Boo playing with and dragging it about the house. 

On occasion I had to mount a reconnaissance when they roughhoused in the basement and a loud, angry yowl would go up; Boo got the cat collar with bell off again but one of the other cats had absconded with it. My retrieval missions for the cat collar with bell were routinely successful and Boo was, to his great delight and to the peace of the rest of the house, was happily reunited.

After we lost him a year ago, I kept his cat collar with bell as a living reminder of a very special cat who once graced us with his special friendship and shared our lives for awhile. I miss hearing his cat collar with bell. So much so that every now and again I almost think I hear his cat collar with bell dinging faintly through the house. I still go looking for the sound only to find his cat collar with bell still hanging right where I left it. I miss you, Boo.

Here is to one of our best friends, our unique Tux cat Boo; in memory of him and his cat collar with bell.

Catspaw

Disclaimer to the Coming Story

Mr Sneakers, the Newfoundland Mouse, meets Moggy is based on a true story, with permission to share it with my faithful readers. 
The names and personalities have been changed to protect the innocent.
No mice were harmed in the telling of this story. 


Story to be posted January 31st. Please come back, enjoy the story and leave a comment. 

Catspaw