About backing up your pictures, did you know there is a setting on the Flickr app that auto uploads the pictures on your phone to a private folder? I just discovered it last week.
I did not know about that! I just went and looked and set mine up – it was super easy to do. Thanks for the tip!
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Do any of your cats exhibit any sensitivities to severe weather or storms? I have one that spent Tuesday evening – even before it got bad – meowing loudly and skittering while crouched low to the floor… which only FREAKED ME OUT! Just wondering.
Nope – although about 15 minutes before we got a hailstorm (two minutes of nickel-sized hail) on Wednesday, Kara got all dark-eyed and came running in and hid (it was raining at the time, but she doesn’t usually react to rain like that). The other numskulls just looked confused while the hail was falling.
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Have Maxi and Kara divided up the property so they know who patrols what?
They pretty much avoid each other – Kara’s got control of the back yard, Maxi wanders wherever she wants, but is spending a lot of time snuggled up in the garage for the winter. Between the back yard and the back forty there’s a space of about 50 feet that’s pure anarchy. Sheriff Mama sits and watches and despairs. (Maxi could patrol that area if she wanted, but when she’s not in the garage, she’s usually either on the side stoop or the front porch.)
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Wow I can’t believe it’s been FIVE! YEARS! since sweet Emmy birthed those sweet babies. I hope she is happy in her semi-feral life.
I hope she is too – I suspect she’s loving living the wild life.
Speaking of Emmy, it’s these two pictures of her that bring 20 – 30 people to Love & Hisses from Pinterest every single day.
The idea of attaching a basket to the wall for your cat to sleep in was of interest to someone, I guess, and it’s been repinned thousands of times (I’m sure there’s a way to figure out exactly how many times it’s been repinned, but I’m not fluent in Pinterestese). I love that little pregnant feral Emmy has been gazed upon so many times.
(And speaking of, the entry from 5 years ago today has an overload of teeny tiny kittens!)
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A Small-Sized Mystery
by Jane Hirshfield
Leave a door open long enough,
a cat will enter.
Leave food, it will stay.
Soon, on cold nights,
you’ll be saying “Excuse me”
if you want to get out of your chair.
But one thing you’ll never hear from a cat
is “Excuse me.”
Nor Einstein’s famous theorem.
Nor “The quality of mercy is not strained.”
In the dictionary of Cat, mercy is missing.
In this world where much is missing,
a cat fills only a cat-sized hole.
Yet your whole body turns toward it
again and again because it is there.
I LOVE this! (There’s more about Jane Hirshfield here.)
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For those of you who are having trouble photographing cats, does your camera have a silent mode on the shutter? If it does, USE it. Mine get much more twitchy when I don’t quiet the shutter. Some of the clack is mechanical and can’t be helped, but there’s no reason to go augmenting it if you don’t need to.
(If you have a DSLR, it’s going to be in the shooting mode settings — whether you shoot continuous or one frame at a time.)
I do have “silent mode,” but my camera is SO loud when it’s focusing that I think that’s what Jake has taken a disliking to. But definitely put your cameras on “silent” if you haven’t already, y’all!
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I don’t remember. What does Frankie eat with his few teeth? How is his overall health?
Frankie’s still got most of his teeth – he’s only had 4 teeth removed so far, since Fred and the vet (I almost said “dentist”!) don’t want to put him through the trauma of removing his teeth until it’s turned into a chronic issue. He eats the same thing the other cats do – kibble and canned food – though he gets extra snacks because Fred is a sucker and Frankie has come to expect special treatment.
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Alice is some kind of OVER Frankie and his incessant need to be near HER Daddy. That face!
“Lady! You’re late for nap time!”
Waiting for the possums to show up and entertain them.
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It got cold yesterday. Joe Bob appreciated the fact that I kept turning on the heated blanket for him.
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Previously
2016: ::ROWRRRR::
2015: He’s hoping for a chicken baby food jackpot!
2014: Hey. I didn’t know that Furminator made a toothbrush! (I’m sure they didn’t know, either.)
2013: No entry.
2012: Meet Emmy’s babies.
2011: Like I say to Fred, every single day, how could you possibly see that face and not think he’s the MOST gorgeous boy in all the land?
2010: No entry.
2009: No entry.
2008: That, my friends, is a powerful stench.
2007: No entry.
2006: No entry.
2005: No entry.
I’m surprised Frankie vacated the heated blankie long enough for Joe Bob to get in there and take advantage of it!
It’s so cute that besties Dewb & F.Beans watch possums together!
Poor Alice!
Frankie’s spending a lot less time on the heated blanket lately, actually! 🙂
Joe Bob’s pic needs to go into the favorites. He is one handsome dude!
And speaking of teeny tiny kitties, what is up with the Three Tiny Tabbies website? For 3 days now I cannot get on it and it says it doesn’t exist. Anybody have info? I hope things are okay.
I wonder if something happened – I checked my reading list and the last post is 2/27 and it comes up with an error….
It’s a hosting thing. They’re switching from one host to another. They’ll be back!
Awesome thanks! She might have said something about that and I MIGHT have forgotten.
wow – if looks could kill you could rent Alice out as a mercenary 🙂
Not really related to anything, but what type of camera do you use for your game cam? Is it motion sensitive? We recently moved into a house with a “koi” pond, i.e. we have big goldfish that aren’t really koi. When we moved in last fall there were 7. Within the last 3 weeks we’ve lost two with no sign of fish corpses. This morning I woke up to see that the fish tunnel they hide in has been moved! So either a neighbor is stealing our fish one at a time or some other critter is getting them. At this point, I’m not sure how many we have now since it is really cold today and they don’t tend to move around much when it’s cold. TIA!!
It’s a Bushnell – this one, to be exact. It is motion sensitive, and you can set it for either video or pictures. I highly recommend it – it works well, and has a good picture/video.
PS: I’m betting it’s one or more raccoons. If you get the camera and find out what the culprit is, please report back!
I think it’s raccoons too. But there is zero evidence other than missing fish and the moved tunnel. I expected to find fish carcass in the yard or something. I’ll keep you posted when/if we find something! Thank you!
They will haul the fish off before eating it. They won’t eat it in an open yard.
Fred is a sucker, you think?
This is the guy who fed the baby robins in your front yard one year because he was concerned about them during the heat/drought.
He is SUCH a sucker. 🙂
I love that basket and keep thinking how I could do something similar.
If you figure it out, I’ll send you some teddy bears for the basket. 🙂
Where did you get the teddy bears?
It looks to me as if it’s 2 wooden blocks, the first mounted directly into the wall studs, the second on top, with the back of the basket sandwiched in between, all mounted into the wall with a quartet of mighty-looking bolts. You’d need a fairly thick and sturdy wire basket to keep the basket from bending under a cat’s weight, but I think I see enough of the structure to do it myself! I’d mount that board behind into the wall studs using a good long wood screw, then use the bolts to mount the front into the back board with the basket sandwiched between. Might also drop a piece of plywood into the bottom of the basket for stability before piling beds on top.
I might just have to try that myself.
I used to be able to tell when a storm was about to pass because Atticus would start walking low to the floor, find his “safe” spot, get himself into a compact kitty loaf, and mewl meekly. Poor baby! But, he’s deaf as a post now, so he no longer has a clue what’s going on. And fortunately, Malcolm is not the least bit bothered by them (although he’s terrified of the Swiffer, lol).
Did you give Joe Bob a kiss after you took that picture? I agree, it’s definitely a handsome picture of the lad! I just love his pink nose.
I have been reading comments about Emmy but I don’t think I remember her story. Please refresh for those of us who can’t recall her circumstances and why she is called feral.
Since you like Jane Hirshfield’s poem – have you ever read “Sleeping with Cats,” Marge Piercy’s collection of catcentric short stories?