I absolutely love this photo of Ollie when he was runt of the litter.
Now seven months old, he is the heaviest of the four siblings. Here he is just a few days ago, enjoying the remains of the Christmas turkey!!!
For the Daily Post’s Favorite Photo of 2017 Challenge.
It was a first for the kitten/cats when I came home via the front door instead of the garage. I’d been out to dinner with Brad and Dave across the street and when they brought me to my front door, there was Ollie, standing on the arch above my door. A great shot I missed as by the time I got my camera out, he had moved to the wall to the side of the arch, and seconds later, Kukla had joined him. Nice not to come home to an empty house! I’d appreciate an advance warning if anyone thinks I’m turning into a cat lady!!
Hint: It will be much easier to see enlarged photos and captions if you click on “Visit” and then click on first photo to enlarge these photos. If you are viewing in Reader or on Facebook and just click on the first photo instead of on “Visit,” photos will be smaller and captions unreadable as they will be superimposed over the photos.
The story of the four kittens abandoned on my doorstep 3 1/2 months ago continues. As you can see, they are barely kittens anymore, and once they’d had all their shots and been neutered and spayed, it was time to make their transition outside. I knew there were dangers, but 5 cats inside is just too much for me to handle anymore, let alone for housesitters allergic to cats to handle, so the day came when they were finally let out to the wide world as it existed within my compound walls. I am hoping they won’t be tempted to go over the walls but know it is inevitable. A bigger worry is that they’ll venture into the backyard where Morrie and Diego are accustomed to dealing with animal interlopers in a predictable manner. I’ve kept sliding glass doors open (screens and bars closed) hoping they’ll get used to each other, but the dogs are jealous, curious, and, well, they are dogs. Here are the events as they have unwound over the past week, ending yesterday. All in all, a scary day.
(Click on the first photo to enlarge and read captions.)
Heartsick. When I went out to feed the kittens this morning, only two showed up. I put out the food, which usually brings them out, but Ollie and Kukla never appeared. I called out over and over, opened the garage door, looked outside, nothing. I was sobbing by the time I thought to pen the dogs up and look in the backyard. It was the worst sort of suspense thriller–the kind of movie I hate–as I combed every inch of the backyard, expecting to find their little bodies everywhere I looked. I had heard the dogs take after something last night and a loud screech, and I had brought the dogs in immediately, but the screech was not catlike and when I called out for kittens, no one answered. Now I regretted not looking closer last night.
I looked everywhere again. As I searched behind the studio, both dogs came around the back way as though they were helping me to look, but nothing. I wondered if the cats had gone hunting in the lots across the street because I was a half hour late in feeding them this morning, thanks to my spider poem. Finally, I went back to the house and let the dogs out, then once again combed the plants around the studio. Diego kept running behind a monster pot containing aloe vera on the terrace near my bedroom, and eventually Morrie joined him. Beside it were two other pots too large to move and they were all tangled up in the thunbergia vine that covered the wall, all of the tall plants around the studio and behind my bedroom, and also had grown up the telephone post and along the wires. I tried to pull the pots back but they were too heavy. I finally pulled one smaller palm pot out and searched behind all the pots. Nothing. But, I thought I detected a tiny squeak.
I put the dogs in again and went back and repeatedly called “Kitty, kitty, kitty.” Finally, Ollie jumped down out of the vine tangle and nonchalantly strolled across the patio, looking very closely for dogs. I called again and a few minutes later, Kukla joined us. I was so relieved!!! I carried them around the house as I’d exited through the doggie domain and was not about to carry them through the room occupied by Morrie and Diego. I put them in the front yard, closed both of the barrier gates, let the dogs out and put the two wayfarers into the house so I could feed them separately from their sisters, who had already eaten. When I went out to get a collar to put on Kukla, however, the other cats got in, so I put another dish of food out, got a collar on Roo and Kukla but not Ollie. Fifteen minutes later, Frannie is the only one who has kept hers on for two days. The rest of the collars are lost somewhere out in the cat jungle. Phew. Motherhood.
As usual, waiting for mom to feed us, to throw the ball, to finish her blog, to give us pats.
Click on first photo to enlarge all.
The prompt word was waiting: https://dailypost.wordpress.com/photo-challenges/waiting-2017/
For some reason, WP wants to make the first photos huge and the ones I most want you to see are tiny. If you click on the first photo below, it will make the smaller ones larger as well. Also, please note that an explanatory poem follows the photos. Click on the X, upper left of the last photo, to see the poem.
Midnight Marketplace
The server’s hands pour liquid flame,
as though its heat he seeks to tame.
Poured in a river from great height,
a brilliant blue pulses with light
and falls steaming into a cup
for late night diners to drink it up.
Then when the restaurant lights go out,
the cats emerge to run about
through the darkened market aisles
to stalk their prey and sport their wiles—
grooming beneath swaying lights,
arching backs and staging fights.
This world of cats comes out at night—
that time when magic is at its height.
They swarm about and ebb and flow,
everywhere we come and go,
as though by moving through it, they
bring power to a feral day.
The hand that reaches to connect
is not rewarded. It’s suspect.
For as they walk their empty aisles,
over midnight-cooled tiles,
already in our nodding heads
are thoughts of home and welcoming beds.
“Coming and Going.” Although I am in the proximity of this dog and undergoing the same experience, you will note that I maintain my individuality by presenting my best angle to the camera in direct contrast to the dog rather than imitating him. And, as a side note, I was here first.
Some Little Nonsense on the Subject of Copycats
Some folks’ originality comes from what they view,
proving that old adage, “Monkey see and monkey do.”
And there’s another label coined from denizens of zoos.
A “copy cat” is one who mirrors everything he views.
But I find this last one puzzling, and so I’m asking you,
have you ever known a cat to do what you want him to?
Whatever he might see you do as he edges nearer,
is likely what he will ignore, not what he’ll choose to mirror.
It’s true that cattle move in herds and wild geese mimic flight,
and no one knows what sister acts mice practice in the night.
Yet all animals aren’t so easy, in spite of what you think.
You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink.
You cannot tell a cat to do what you want him to.
What you desire from that cat is what he will eschew.
Sit or fetch? Roll over? Those things hold no attraction.
Cats simply are not at their best when you prompt interaction.
So let’s dispel this rumor that cats are good at mimicry.
For though they like to bat at strings and other hanging gimmickry,
they don’t want to imitate any other creature.
For in the world of animals, each cat is the main feature.
The prompt today is copycat.
Nothing like a little rest in the shade of a few palm trees!
This is Annie––once in the majority but now grossly outnumbered by dogs in the house.
For more trees, go HERE.
lifelessons - a blog by Judy Dykstra-Brown 