The Great Escape

It's quite Summery these days although Summer has not officially arrived.  As the weather warms we fling wide the windows, and a fluffy cat becomes more and more vocal.  I do believe I've heard Nate say "Me-owt".  About 100 times.  I don't, of course, blame him since I, too, want to be out on my lovely deck when perfect-weather days come along.

Now lets say I do the unpardonable and go out on the deck, sans cats, on a nice day and get comfy in a lounge chair with a book.  I must do so to an accompaniment of mews, moans, yowls, trills, and assorted other cat sounds all saying essentially the same thing:  "I WANT OUT!!!"

We bought Kitty Holsters for the boys a couple years ago,  in the hope that we could take them outside and let them hang out safely on the deck.  They enjoy it, but it turns out not to be very relaxing for me.  Nate, especially, winds and tangles around everything and has learned that if he runs the leash out full length and then lunges up and wiggles he can sometimes achieve a backwards escape from his supposedly inescapable harness.  Thus I rarely sit peacefully when I have him outside.  I don't, of course, truly begrudge him this 'cause he looks so darn cute.

Don't I Look Cute In My Cammo Holster?

Lounging In the Sun

Gotta Sun My Fluffy Tummy

And I'm Outta Here

Oh, did I mention that Nate has now almost outgrown his Kitty Holster?  Yeah, 14 pounds of cat + 3" of fluff = new holster needed.  It just barely Velcros around his tummy now.  I never thought I'd see the day my cats would be outgrowing their clothes!





 

Pardon The Interruption

Yes, it's been awhile since I last posted.  Quite awhile.  Over a year, in fact.  What's happened over the past year?  Quite a bit.  For one thing, I learned this about myself:  I'll never be a daily blogger.  Much as I enjoy it, it's not important enough to me to be a daily task.  Plus my original idea of a new cat picture each day fizzled for various reasons.  Some days my subjects just wouldn't cooperate.  Some days I got frustrated with photo editing.  And some days I was just plain lazy (I know someone who will say that was the case most days)! 

But here I am again, with a slightly new focus.  I've thought about it and still feel that Cats 365 is an apprpriate title, since no day goes by in which I don't love cats, look at cats, talk about cats, view videos of cats, etc.  No, I'm not (quite) the "crazy cat lady" who can talk about nothing else.  I can discuss Civil War history with you, rhapsodize over a new restaurant, enthuse about new genealogy discoveries, talk recipes for hours, and cheer on my Detroit Tigers and Red Wings.  Everyone who knows me, however, associates me with cats.  They send me cat emails, they post cat videos and captioned photos on my Facebook timeline, they ask me their cat questions.  And recently at a local store a lady whom I'd never seen before in my life called to me from her car "Do you want a kitten?"  Seriously...I thought I might be wearing a sign that everyone but me could see! 

Anyway my cats and I are back, and since we got a new better-than-ever camera this year, I can get better-than-ever pictures of them.  Here are the first two we took of them with the new camera:

 

Nate - Bath Interrupted - January 2013

 

 

Nick - Kitchen Lounger - January 2013

Because of the higher quality camera the flash isn't always needed.  Less flash = more open-eyed cat photos.  They're happy, and I'm happy.

 

By the way, if they look a bit larger than the last time you saw them...they are.  At this year's annual vet visit we learned that Nate has caught up to brother Nick.  Both boys now weigh 14 pounds!  Nick turned 4 in April, Nate will turn 4 in July, and in February we celebrated 3 years that they've been here with us.  Such an awesome time it's been and continues to be!

 

Must go now, snuggles are being strongly requested!

 



 

 

 

 

Remembering Bentley James

Looking back at my post on March 25th, I realize I missed something important.  That was Bentley's birthday, my late but much loved and still missed first cat.  So in memory...

Bentley James was born March 25, 1997 and passed on March 10th, 2009. 

He was just a little grey fluff ball when I brought him home in June of 1997.  And he was my baby, buddy and supervisor from our first moment together.  Here's one of his first photos:

Bentley loved baskets, boxes and sleeping in the sink.

Everyone who met Bentley loved him, and at various times he was called "magnificent" "wonderful" and even "glorious."  A cat-fearing friend of mine actually enjoyed seeing his pictures and would sometimes ask if I had any new ones.  A neighbor who kitty-sat with him wrote me a thank you note for letting her watch him!  There was just something about him.

True to his British Shorthair breed Bentley rarely meowed, but his loud rumbly purr was an awesome sound.  And he was always close at hand to supervise everything I did.

I'm lucky to have many, many pictures of Bentley, and it makes me smile to look through them and remember fun times, silly times, and cozy times with him.  If a beloved fur child is part of your family be sure you take lots of pictures of him or her.  Don't let anyone tell you it's a crazy thing to do.  Some day they will be real treasures for you and bring you happiness and comfort.

I love you Bentley!

Happy Birthday Nick!

Nick is 3 years old today, and I think he's had a good day.  I sang "Happy Birthday" to him this morning, which he, perhaps, could have lived without.  I did it while snuggling him, though, and that's something he HAS to have each morning.  He got lots of nice birthday wishes via Facebook today as well, and tonight I cooked chicken and rice for his birthday dinner.  Ok, the dinner was mostly for us, but Nick did have his own unseasoned chicken chunk and a bit of the rice on his own little plate.  The chicken disappeared quickly, the rice not so much. 

He wasn't a tiny kitten when we brought him home two years ago, so I haven't noticed the changes in him as much as I have with Nate, but here's a picture from back then...

Look how small he looks sitting in the basket of the cat tree!  Today he fills it to overflowing and it leans precariously.

And here's a recent photo, patiently awaiting a game of fetch with one of his many soccer balls.

Happy birthday sweet boy!

Find the Kitty

Cats love to hide; I'm sure you know

If you've searched for one, high and low.

Thus I present the first "hidden kitten" picture on Cats365.

(The hider is Nate)

Cat Parts

Yes, cat parts.  Several years ago I was quite involved with a cooking/recipe site on which there were quite a few cat lovers.  The site still exists but the community is nothing like it used to be.  Anyway, we used to have mini marathons of posting kitty pictures.  Sometimes we'd be more specific and post pictures of just parts of cats.  Maybe it'd be "cat ear" day, or "cat tail" day.  And I miss that.  And I'm bringing it back.  And Sandi K., if you ever read this I hope it brings back good memories.

It's "Paw Day!"

Nate Paws

Nick Paws

Seeing White

I'm finally back.  I realize there was quite a delay between Day 7 and Day 8 but certainly not due to a lack of cat antics or photographs.  They've been entertaining me all the while.  Today we were slated to get a serious snowstorm...at least 8 inches.  Schoole were closed.  People were raiding Kroger for emergency supplies (since when does steak qualify as an emergency supply??).  Anyway, it snowed during the night and driving to work this morning wasn't pleasant, but during the day most of the snow melted.

All this to lead into these photos from close to a month ago, when we actually had some accumulation on January 28th.  Todd went outside to get the snowblower going, once the snow abated, and boys found it fascinating as you can see...

 "Hey Nate, what the heck do ya think Dad's doing out there?"

 "I don't know, but I wish I was out there too!"

 "Gee, it's loud and kind of scary."

"Nah, I think it's exciting. Still wish I was out there."

And finally he got his wish, although he was perhaps a bit less excited about it once his paws sunk into the white stuff.