Just Another Day With the Cats

The cats keep me entertained every day.  I wish I had a camera with me at all times.  And I wish I remembered I have a camera on my phone - which IS usually with me at all times.  Last month I did a home evaluation of a kitten that the owner thought was being aggressive.  The kitten was fine and was just being a 3-month-old kitten.  The lady's apartment faced a pond.  While I was watching the kitten, the lady told her granddaughter to get the crackers.  At the patio door stood two adult ducks and 10 little ducklings.  They come every afternoon for the crackers.  The lady opened the door, tossed some oyster crackers out and a dozen ducks went crazy trying to get them.  Half of the ducklings came inside the living room to get crackers thrown there.  I was totally enthralled and mesmerized by this.  It was the coolest thing I'd seen in years.  Darn, I wish I had my camera.  When I told my husband about it that evening, he said it was too bad I didn't get a picture with my phone.  Damn!  So, the past few days I've kept the camera close and took quite a few pictures.

FLUFFY  TOILET  PAPER.  I was greeted by this when I walked into the bathroom the other day.  I've found TP with holes, and quite a few rolls unrolled on the floor, but I've never, ever seen fluffy TP like this.  It was very interesting that they could shred it like this and have it still stay connected.  It looked like a bunch of feathers.  I have no idea who did this or how they did it.  The roll is now kept in the cabinet,  Just another day in the life of cat fostering.

I was downstairs and heard a loud bang upstairs.  Not unusual, but I always investigate.  Someone had evidently climbed up our fake tree in the foyer and knocked it over onto the sofa.  By the time I got there, three kittens and Alex were having a ball playing Jungle Cat.  Alex is the large adult on the seat. 

 Alex loves the kittens.  They follow him around like he's their daddy, and he licks and grooms them like they're his kids.







 Alex and the kittens get their canned food in the bathroom every evening.  Alex starts whining, I get a can, a plate, and a spoon, and he and all four kittens run to the bathroom.  It's called a conditioned response.  It means they have me well trained.

 This is Mia, a new foster kitten I have.  Nita, a very nice lady in west county, is rescuing a colony of cats living behind a grocery store.  She called Heartland for help with the first two she trapped, and I took a gray tortie adult and this black tortie kitten.  She is so, so sweet.  She naps on John's chest every night while he watches TV.  She cuddles and gives kisses.  The gray adult is very shy and hasn't come out from under the bed overhang yet.  She lets me pet her, but doesn't want to come out.

 This is the corner under the stairs in the atrium.  For some reason, it's a very popular spot for afternoon naps.  Usually it's Alex's, but today Ebony got there first.  You wouldn't think they'd want to sleep right next to the litter box, but they do, especially if they can lay on the blue plastic bag they like to play with.  Nothing but the best in cat toys at my house.  Daisy was sleeping on the other side of the litter box.  Go figure.

Two Baby Quilts

My friend, Julie, who doesn't sew, asked if I'd make her friend a baby quilt for her shower in August.  I said I'd love to.  Baby quilts are usually more fun to make because they're smaller and faster, for one thing.  Plus, they're usually cuter, with more fun fabrics.  We decided on a pattern and set a date to go fabric shopping.  We met at Jackman Fabrics, a very large store.  Needless to say, Julie had a case of overstimulation and too many fabrics and color choices.  Once we had the focus fabric, the rest fell into place.  I washed and dried the fabric and was ready to start.  However, cutting into someone else's fabric is a little more stressful than cutting into my own.  So, since the pattern was fairly simple, I decided to make a test sample first.  I'd gotten some coordinated fabrics in May that I was anxious to use and this seemed the perfect time.

This is the main part of the top.  I've auditioned several fabrics for borders and decided on dark blue, purple, and a stripe.  I'm trying to use stripes in every quilt I make. 

I don't usually wash incoming fabric unless I know it's by a designer or company known for fabric that shrinks.  Nancy Halvorsen is a designer who puts out beautiful fabrics, but they do shrink and I always wash those.  And I have another designer now to add to that list.  The yellow background fabric was designed by Sue Penn.  It was fine when I steam pressed the center with the green star.  It looked so nice, I decided to spray starch it and make it perfect.  As soon as the spray hit those yellow squares, they shrank a quart inch right before my eyes like shrink wrap and a heat gun.  I had to rip them out, shrink the rest of the yellow fabric, cut new squares and replace them and all the other yellow squares.  The triangles for the star points were somehow not as bad and I elected to keep them.  The original pattern was just the square with the three rounds of star points.  I added a top and bottom row of piano-key borders to make it rectangular.

This is with all the borders on.  I really like the way it turned out and was ready to cut out Julie's quilt.

My sister was in town last weekend and brought Mom over Monday.  We had a regular sweat shop going.  Sue was cutting, I was sewing, and Mom was pressing.  Most of the top was done in a day.  I put the last two borders and the name on today. Thanks a million, Sue.

I didn't think to take a photo before the borders were started. They make such a difference, it's fun to see the comparison. Julie asked if I could put the baby's name on the quilt.  It's a boy and will be named Chase.

Here's Chase's quilt with his name appliqued at the bottom.  The actual quilt is a little brighter than this.  The photos are always darker here than they are when I edit and crop them.  I lighten them, but sometimes not enough.

Quilting and binding shouldn't take too long, and it will be all done.

I hope you like it, Julie!

 A close up of the center.

Random Cute Cats

No theme today, just random picture I've taken of the cats around the house.  The first two are Trish, a foster.  I use empty cat food boxes as portable trash boxes when doing rounds.  I collect empty cans, paper towels, Q-tips, etc. room to room, dump the contents in the kitchen trash cans, and set the box on the counter to reuse next time.  Cats will make a bed out of anything, and Trish thought this box looked like the perfect size.  I know the feeling.  Like putting last year's spring slacks on in April.  

You got a problem?

Then, I had put a pile of clean laundry on the kitchen table to take downstairs the next time I went.  I knew better, I really did.  Five minutes later, fosters Zach and Fiona found their own bed.

 Speaking of barely fitting....this is Alex, another foster.  He's a year old and is one of my favorites.  He's 15 pounds of love.  Granted, the chair isn't all that wide, but if Alex was any larger, he'd have to curl up a little.  Yes, I still have pink chairs in the living room, but no new furniture as long as I'm fostering.  Probably not till John retires and we get that RV he talks about as our only home - NOT.  I'd need the whole thing for my sewing room.

Scotty likes to lay on the back of my recliner in the evenings

 Tonight he spent some time on the arm of John's sofa.  He was really sleeping like this.  When I took the picture, the flash or clicking woke him up.

He moved to a more comfortable position leaning against Daddy till Daddy got up to go to bed.  Scotty is such a sweet, sweet boy.  The only kittens I have running loose are Scotty, Fiona, Zach and Cody.  They've formed a gang and all run together - across the room, down the hall, up or down the stairs.  It's really funny to watch them when they're active during the evening.  One will run somewhere and the other three race after him - like a school of fish.  They're not so active during the afternoon.  Everybody is in, on, or under something for their naps.  Scotty seems to sleep a little more than the other kittens.  He certainly enjoys his naps.

Minnie and Kittens, Disappearing Act

Minnie's kittens are 8 weeks old now and are just the most adorable, sweetest, cutest kittens ever.  They're also pretty smart for their age.  I went in their room a few nights ago and only counted three kittens out of five.  I looked in the closet and in the room.  There's not too many places to hide since the furniture and the bed are boarded up at the bottom.  I was completely stumped.  Then I heard scratching from under the bed.  Impossible!  Although they're kittens, they're big for their age at 2.5 pounds, and mom and I keep them quite well fed.  So, I thought there's no way anyone could be under the bed.  I moved the night stand away, got a flashlight, and saw a kitten in the gap by the headboard. 

I thought I had the night stand pushed up close enough to the bed.  Obviously not.

 When I called, one squeezed out next to the box springs - which is neither a box with solid corners nor has springs.  It may look a little strange because I have a fitted sheet over it for added protection from kittens.

 After the second one came out, I moved the night stand back, took another head count and came up with four. 

Moved the night stand away, and two more kittens came out!  Wait a minute.  Had four, got two more, that's six. 

  The little devils were coming out on the right side, running around the bottom of the bed and going back in on the other side.  It was like clowns coming out of the little car at the circus. 

 Using what I had at hand, I plugged the hole on the left with an extra pillow.  So far, so good. Max got in a couple times, but not the third time.

 On the right side, I used a rolled up towel for the corner, and slid a plastic tub lid down the side of the night stand to fill in the 1.5" of space that's evidently enough for a kitten to squeeze through.

It's been several days now and the head count has always totaled five.  I've always said it's hard to be smarter than a kitten.

Jules

 

These are the culprits. Max and Scotty are the only males.

Mila

Mila

Max

Scotty

Scotty

Fiona

Jules and Fiona

The kittens were so tired from all the running.  From the top are Max, Fiona, Mila, Jules, and Scotty.  Nobody was posed.  They did this all on their own.

Minnie

Beautiful mom, Minnie, was watching her babies play.

Minnie and Kittens

A couple weeks ago, Tami, Minnie's finder, rescuer and eventual foster mom, came to visit Minnie and her five 5-week-old kittens.  She had a ball playing with them, and they with her. Tami wore a long knit dress that made a wonderful bed when she sat on the floor.  Fiona slept there for a long time.  Current pictures coming soon.

Tami with Fiona

Jules

Fiona, Mila, Scotty, and Max with Mom.

Mila and Scotty on Minnie.

 Scotty and Jules were fascinated by Tami's purse.
















 Mila had to see what all the interest was about.

Cats Just Hangin' on the Deck

A few weeks ago when we had that day and a half of spring, the cats and I spent a lot of time on the deck.  I was reading, and they were doing even less than that. In no particular order are:

Lilly and Amy

 Lilly and Amy are doing what Lilly and Amy do best.

Lucy

Ebony and Lilly

Lucy has several of my daughter's stuffed animals that she has adopted as her own.  She carries them around all over the house and greets people at the door with them - after she has charged at the glass door barking in attack mode and jumped on said glass door, still barking.  It's no wonder the delivery men practically throw my packages onto the porch.  But, once you're inside the house, you're her best friend and are only there to play with her.  Even the good dogs have their issues.

Xena

Buster and Daisy

Amy

I went in to get the camera and lost my lounge chair in two seconds.  Ebony is my very favorite foster.  She is just the sweetest cat EVER. She would love it if I just held her all day long.  Lilly is in the background.





Xena certainly lives up to her name.  She's fearless, will try anything, and will be the first to do it.  I can't believe she hasn't tried to see how long it would take her to fall to the ground - and be faster than anyone else trying it.



Buster isn't the sharpest knife in the drawer, but he's a sweetie.  And he loves me, but not as much as he loves Lucy.  You should see him rubbing on her.  It's so embarrassing for Lucy, she gets up and moves.   Daisy is Lilly's sister, but is a little shy.  She has the same gorgeous orange and gray tortie coat.



Amy is a sweetie, too.  She always comes over to give us rubs. She's always in the kitchen if I'm in there.  Well, everyone's in the kitchen if I'm in there.  They're all hoping for drops, spills, and handouts.  Lilly has learned she can grab four or five bites of my granola in the morning before I get the blueberries and milk on it.

Part of Amy's bottom lip is missing, so all her pictures look like she's smiling. She's a gorgeous cat, too.

Silly Lilly

Buster

Xena and Buster

Besides all the foster cats, I have three of my own.  I adopted brother and sister kittens a few years ago from Heartland and named them Buster and Xena.  Buster was named after my favorite rabbit I had years ago.  A friendly, adorable Himalayan dwarf that was a house rabbit.  Xena was named after Xena, Warrior Princess.  Even as a kitten, she would walk around the house looking up at a shelf or counter, and you could hear her thinking, "How can I make it up there?"  She would spend hours figuring out how to get in places our other cat never thought about. I told her if she didn't quit that, her neck was going stay in that position.  I made it about two and a half years without adopting any of my fosters myself before I succumbed and became a failed foster mom. 

Lilly

All because of this super-sweet orange and gray tortie that lived only to be held in my arms 24/7.  No way could I allow anyone else to adopt this little girl.  Lilly greets everybody and has never met a stranger.  Anyone sitting at the kitchen table will have Lilly sprawled in front of them, on her back, demanding to be petted.  When I do a home adoption, Lilly will lay down on top of the adoption papers they're trying to fill out.  I tell them they'll have to excuse Lilly, she's a little shy.

The other day I was talking to John on the phone, looked up and saw Lilly lounging on the top of the canopy covering the deck.  OMG!  I told him he wouldn't believe where Lilly was.  He said he probably would.  He said take pictures, which I did, and emailed them to him at work.

We have a walk-out lower level, so the deck off the kitchen is 12 feet off the ground.  The cats love to go out on the deck.  They walk around on top of the railing, but nobody has ever gone over.  Kittens have to be 3 months old to get on the deck.  It's their favorite place to be.  It's also my favorite place to be - when it's below 75 and above 55 degrees.  Me, my lounge chair, my Kindle, my cats, and a chocolate martini.  Life really doesn't get any better.  Everybody rushes out when I ask, "Anybody want to go outside?"  Of course, getting them back in requires lots of cat treat tossed on the floor with me shouting Cookies! cookies! They're really hating the heat wave we have now.  Nobody gets out there when it's in the 90's. 

"What?"

I don't know how Lilly got up there, but I didn't want her to try to get down by herself.  She was quite comfortable and had no desire to be anywhere else.  I stood on a kitchen chair and pushed her fat butt up from the underneath of the canopy to get it over the frame.  Like lifting a 10-pound plastic bag of jello.  We've had the frame and canopy about 8 years, and this is the first time a cat has gotten on top of it.