Is It Safe?

My brother visited overnight, which showed a new side of the boys.

Background:When we first moved in nearly ten years ago, this was actually the Summerhill Puppy farm, named because of one Winnie the Paws. Alas, Winnie was the wrong dog, especially as we realized she would grow into a beautiful 80 pounds of German Shepard mix. After three weeks puppy Winnie went to my brother, who was a perfect match. He loves her and has trained her the way you need to train 80 pounds of loving teeth and muscle. However, even now Winnie remembers Katherine and I as family.

Fast forward nine years, it was interesting to see how the cats would greet family.

However, I use the word greet loosely. Whitey was calm with my brother, at least until Mist of Doom appeared to discourage the feline from walking on our guest at 3 AM. However, Emily and Billy were barely bribed to come out for kitty treats. But Emily is not easily social in general, and Billy was so skittish that he skipped part of dinner (his only wet food of the day) rather be one room away from my brother for any length of time.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, Tubbo, The Mighty Hunter, skipped dinner in order to hide under Katherine's office futon.

<s>Snow</s> Cats

I pointed out previously that cats like to hang out in open windows (even in winter).

It turns out this has limits. With the Blizzard of 2005 in full swing, I opened a window for moment to see the reminds of our yard better. Billy, on the floor, got a mere hint of the cold draft and immediately wandered off. That was just as well, had he hopped up to the sill I was still closing the window.

Photo Friday: Whitey Portrait

I originally didn't post this shot of Whitey on the newel post because I didn't think it was as good as our picture of Billy in the same spot, but it has kind of grown on me.



Speaking of growing, when Katherine posts the boys weight we'll see that the boys are getting all grown up, and not gaining weight any more. They certainly look like handsome adults now.

Spider Cat II - Grilling the Spider Cat

Spider Cat has lived up to his name.

I went into the empty kitchen to rinse a glass, and after a moment at the sink I happened to look up. Lo and behold, there was Spider Cat sitting up in the nose bleed seats, specifically in the (fortunately never used) Weber grill briquette pans on top of a kitchen cabinet.

He had obviously gone from the floor to kitchen counter to refrigerator to cabinet top to his seat.

I obviously used the Mist Of Doom on him, although I had to switch firing angles when it appeared he was going to retreat via a eight foot swan dive directly to the floor instead of the safer path he took going up. (He still dove off the refrigerator directly, with no ill effects.)

We have put shake cans all about the kitchen, especially on the top of the refrigerator above the counter.

Who was That Masked Cat?

Making tea in the kitchen recently, Katherine heard the landing thump of a cat jumping down behind her. She turned around, and Whitey magically had appeared on the counter next to the refrigerator.

A visit to any kitchen counter is a Mist of Doom offense. If it was indeed a jump down to the counter, someone has been exploring even higher (where they belong even less).

Ford Ranger 0, Kitten Farm 1

If you look carefully at photos with the exterior of the kitten farm, you can see:

• We're at the intersection of Summer and Summerhill Streets, and
• We have a two foot high retaining wall around the front and side of the kitten farm.

This evening a pickup truck barreled around the bend of Summer Street leading to our intersection, bounced off a car parked in the Summer Street driveway of 1 Summerhill Street, nailed a curbside trash barrel (also the property of 1 Summerhill), careened across Summerhill Street, and hit our stone wall.

I was on the sidewalk at the foot of our Summer Street driveway as this unfolded. Actually, when I first saw the truck I was at the foot of the driveway. Having seen the results of a previous accident which nailed 1 Summerhill's fence, with the truck on final approach I ran for my [expletive] life up the driveway past the continuation of the retaining wall.

 (I didn't need to run, as it turned out. But as Katherine says, I was wise, and the original builders of the retaining wall were wiser.)

 The pickup may have impacted at the wall at 25 miles an hour or more. The vehicle has serious front end damage; it is probably mortally wounded. We have very annoyed neighbors (the truck pushed their car into their garage door and ripped off the rear bumper), but the stone wall is barely scratched.

 The cats were finishing dinner at the time, so of course they didn't do much more than have alarmed looks between bites.

 [Later: I was wrong, the wall doesn't show any scratches. However, I will need to get out and clean up broken truck remains in daylight.]

Photo Friday: Our West Coast Staff

Katherine's day job gets office support from those helpful people at Paperwork Partners. This week's photo Friday introduces the Paperwork Partners feline counterpart to Emily, Miss Chi Matson.